Түркияның солшыл премьер-министрі: Бюлент Эджевит

16th Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey (served 1974, 1977, 1978–79, and 1999–2002)

Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in 1974, 1977, 1978–1979, and 1999–2002. Ecevit was chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) between 1972 and 1980, and in 1987 he became chairman of the Democratic Left Party (DSP). Ecevit began his political career when he was elected a CHP MP from Ankara in the 1957 election and came to prominence as Minister of Labour in İsmet İnönü's cabinets, representing the rising left wing faction of the party. Ecevit eventually became leader of the CHP in 1972; his leadership rejuvenated the party by reaching out to working class voters and cementing the party as "Left of Center". Ecevit became Prime Minister in 1974, during which he retracted the ban on cultivation of opium and invaded Cyprus. He formed two more governments in 1977 and 1978–1979 which were marked by increasing polarization, deadlock, and political violence that ended with the 1980 coup. Following the coup, Ecevit, along with most politicians, was banned from politics for ten years. During the ban, the Democratic Left Party (DSP) was established under the chairmanship of his wife, Rahşan. When the political ban was lifted in 1987, he became the head of the DSP. While heading a caretaker government for the 1999 election, PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was captured in Kenya, catapulting DSP into first place in the election. The DSP MHP ANAP coalition (1999–2002) introduced important political and economic reforms, as well as beginning Turkey's accession into the European Union. The MHP's withdrawal from the coalition led to the government's collapse, and in the subsequent 2002 snap election, the DSP was ejected from parliament after being unable to clear the electoral threshold. Ecevit resigned the chairmanship of the party in 2004. He died on Sunday, November 5, 2006, as a result of circulatory and respiratory failure. Ecevit is known for being Turkey's only leftist prime minister. who was an Islamic scholar of Kurdish origin with roots in the region of Tunceli but born in a village in Kastamonu. Mustafa Şükrü's son and Bülent's father Fahri Ecevit was a professor of forensic medicine in Ankara University's Law School. Fahri later entered politics and served as a Republican People's Party member of parliament for Kastamonu between 1943 1950. His mother of Bosniak ancestry, Fatma Nazlı, was among the first women in Turkey to paint professionally. Bülent Ecevit's maternal great grandfather was the Meccan Sheikh ul Islam Hacı Emin Pasha, who served to protect the holy sights of Hejaz in the Ottoman Empire. The inheritance of his estate, which consisted of approximately 110 decares of land and 99 acres of the Masjid an Nabawi was left to him once Ecevit's mother died. One lawyer valued the estate at almost $2 billion, while unofficial valuation made by a Medina Court put it at $11 billion. In the end Ecevit donated the proceeds of the estate to the Directorate of Religious Affairs for the benefit of Turkish Hajjis, after his retirement from politics. Ecevit had no siblings and would have no children.

In 1944, Ecevit graduated from Robert College in Istanbul. He started work as a translator at the General Directorate for Press and Publication (Turkish: Basın Yayın Genel Müdürlüğü). In 1946, shortly after marrying his classmate Zekiye Rahşan Aral, he moved to London to work in the Turkish embassy as a press attaché. During his stay he studied Bengali, Sanskrit and Art History at the School of Oriental and African Studies but did not graduate. He also indulged in composing Sufi poetry. Bülent Ecevit was not only a politician but also a poet, journalist and a writer. In the 1950s, he worked as an editor for Ulus, and then Yeni Ulus, Halkçı, and Forum. He later reported that both Ulus and Forum were two significant parts of his intellection life of that period. In 1955 Ecevit went to the United States for three months as a guest journalist for the Winston Salem Journal in North Carolina, and was disturbed by the racism he witnessed in the American South. On his last day at the newspaper he wrote a front page article about how strange it was that Americans took it upon themselves to fight oppression in the world while white Americans were

text=“guilty of refusing to drink from the same fountain as the man who has fought on the same front for the same cause; guilty of refusing to travel on the same coach or seat as the man who has been working with equal ardor for a common community; guilty of refusing to pray to God side by side with the man who believes in the same prophet’s teaching.”

On a State Department fellowship, he returned to the US with a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship Scholarship in 1957, studying social psychology and Middle East history at Harvard University for eight months. He attended lectures on anti communism with Olof Palme and Bertrand Russell and attended Henry Kissinger's Harvard International Seminar. Even as a politician he continued writing for various newspapers, including the daily Milliyet in 1965, the monthly Özgür İnsan magazine in 1972, the weekly Arayış in 1981, and the monthly Güvercin magazine in 1988. Ecevit also translated works by Rabindranath Tagore, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and Bernard Lewis into Turkish. Ecevit was successful in these literary endeavors despite never having graduated from a university, a fact that prevented him from ever running for the Presidency of the Turkish Republic.

Bülent Ecevit returned to Turkey in 1950 as a journalist, eventually writing for Ulus. Writing about politics made him interested in pursuing a career of it, so he registered with the Republican People's Party (CHP) Çankaya branch in 1954, eventually taking part in its Youth Branch Executive Board. At the age of thirty two, he was elected into parliament for the first time in 1957, representing Ankara as a member of the CHP. He was part of the party's delegation to the Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution after the 1960 military coup d'état. At the age of thirty six, he served as the Minister of Labour in three coalition governments headed by İsmet İnönü between 1961 and 1965. Under his purview, the Law on Collective Bargaining, Strikes and Lockouts was signed, which as well as expanding social security privileges, finally allowed Turkish workers the right to strike and collective bargaining. The party lost the election to Süleyman Demirel's center right Justice Party. In opposition, the party was racked with internal power struggles, as Ecevit and Turhan Feyzioğlu fought over the party's political orientation. İnönü reluctantly favored Ecevit (who he thought was too young), and in the 18th ordinary CHP congress held in 1966 he was elected secretary general of the CHP. An extraordinary congress held the next year saw 47 deputies and senators led by Feyzioğlu leave the CHP to found the Reliance Party. In 1969, secretary general Ecevit announced a village development program and using the slogan "Land for those who cultivate it, water for those who utilize it." Another inter party crisis occurred in the military memorandum of 1971, as Ecevit resigned from his position in protest against İnönü's decision to support the military government. He objected the memorandum, saying that it was directed against the Left of Center movement within the CHP. Heated exchanges occurred between the once old allies, with at one point İnönü saying "[It's] Either me or Bülent!" promising that he would resign if his party did not have confidence in him. On 8 May 1972 İsmet İnönü lost a vote of confidence to Ecevit in an extraordinary congress. İnönü thus was the first general chairman in Turkish political history to lose his position as a result of a party leadership vote.

Despite the conflict between İnönü and Ecevit originally being about the former's support for the technocratic military government, Ecevit initially provided ministers to the Melen government, but withdrew support soon after a reaction from his party base. Rumours circulated that CHP would be banned by the military. In the 1973 presidential election, both Ecevit and Demirel agreed to end the soldier president tradition and voted against Faruk Gürler. The two compromised to support Fahri Korutürk's candidacy as the president, who was an admiral. However, secretary general Kamil Kırıkoğlu still voted for Gürler and he and 32 CHP deputies resigned from the party.

The CHP's electability was put to the test in the general elections of 1973. With the campaign slogan Akgünlere (To brighter days), the help of labour unions, and other leftist groups, the CHP won 185 deputies with 33.3% of the votes, winning a plurality of the votes and seats in parliament. Ecevit was invited to form a government and formed a coalition with the Islamist National Salvation Party (MSP) headed by Necmettin Erbakan. as well as lifting the ban on opium cultivation that was previously implemented by the military governments under heavy American pressure. The age to vote was lowered to 18. In July 1974, inter communal violence in Cyprus once again flared up when pro EOKA forces staged a coup against president Makarios. Ecevit went to London to met with British officials, as the UK is also a guarantor state of Cyprus, but a common policy for the situation in Cyprus was not found. Ecevit decided to militarily intervene and invaded Cyprus, for which he is nicknamed the 'Conqueror of Cyprus' (Kıbrıs Fatihi). This resulted in an arms embargo by the United States on Turkey which lasted for three years. As a left wing nationalist, Ecevit initially believed Turkey's destiny was not with Europe. He extended this Eurosceptic sentiment to his economic policy, not only establishing generous social programs and enabling a larger government role in the economy, but also raising protective tariffs to keep cheap foreign goods out of Turkey. His combative stance against Athens prevented Turkey from joining the European Economic Community jointly with Greece in 1979. With allegations of corruption between Ecevit and the independent MPs, TÜSİAD requesting his resignation by printing advertisements on newspapers, and defeat in the 1979 by elections, Ecevit resigned as prime minister on 14 October 1979. Without a majority, Demirel returned as premier. In the lead up to another military intervention in 1980, parliament attempted 115 times to vote for a new president.

Bülent Ecevit was subject to six assassination attempts. All but one occurred in the 1970s. Five happened in Turkey

On September 12, 1980 the Turkish Armed Forces seized control of the country. Bülent and Rahşan and most politicians were incarcerated for a month in Hamzaköy, Gelibolu. Along with politicians of all other parties Ecevit was banned from politics for ten years, with the provisional Article 4 of the new constitution. He resigned from the chairmanship of the CHP on October 30, 1980. The Republican People's Party and all other existing political parties were banned by the military. He was banned from traveling abroad in April 1981 for his opposition to the military rule. He was twice more imprisoned from December 1981 to February 1982 and August to October 1982 for his opposition to the junta.

With his ban from politics being finally lifted in a referendum in 1987, he took over the chairmanship of DSP, inheriting the position from Rahşan. His party failed to enter the Grand National Assembly for polling below 10% in the general elections held two months later, so Ecevit briefly resigned before returning as DSP leader in 1989. Emphasizing the need to preserve national unity and secularism in the general elections held in 1991, he attacked SHP, saying "Do not divide the social democratic votes." He also criticized SHP for forming an electoral alliance with the new pro Kurdish People's Labor Party, and claimed that the SHP "cooperated with the separatists". Despite his partial Kurdish heritage, Ecevit refused to recognize Kurds as an ethnic group in his speeches, and would repeatedly oppose legislation to legalize education in Kurdish and Kurdish television. However progress to EU ascension inevitably hit a roadblock, that being of his making; the Cyprus Dispute. Eventually Ecevit hired the World Bank economist Kemal Derviş his economic minister. With his guidance, the government passed an extensive series of comprehensive economic reforms and regulations. These included changes to the tender law, economic social council law, unemployment insurance, the restructuring of state banks, accreditation law, law on capital markets, and establishment of competition authorities. These successful reforms allowed for Derviş to sign off on a $20 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, which enabled the high growth of 2002–2007 after DSP's fall from government. The Kocaeli earthquake occurred 17 August 1999, killing tens of thousands in Istanbul and İzmit and causing billions in damages. A tax to prevent earthquake damage (also known as the Earthquake tax) was established after the disaster. During this period, the "Law of Conditional Release and Postponement," also known as the Rahşan Amnesty, was passed in reaction to the large amount of hunger strikes occurring in prison, which gave conditional amnesty to crimes other than those committed against the state. Advocated for by Rahşan Ecevit, she commented on the outcome of her law in retrospect, saying "I asked for forgiveness for the poor, [instead] the murderers benefited." With this amnesty, the number of prisoners decreased from 70,000 to 40,000, but in three years it increased again to 64,000.

Bülent Ecevit was a strong opponent of the invasion of Iraq by the US, though he allowed American planes to use bases in Turkey for their air patrols over Northern Iraq. Even still, he criticized American sanctions on Iraq, which he said caused needless suffering. Bülent rested at home, but was taken back to the hospital. Rahşan shared her doubts about her husbands treatment with public during this period. Her allegations were denied, but the issue was brought up again in the Ergenekon trials in the following years. Discussions came to the fore whether Ecevit could continue governing while incapacitated. Nine deputies from the DSP issued a statement on 25 June, demanding "to lead a life without Ecevit under the leadership of Ecevit". Another group of DSP deputies, who made a press statement on behalf of him on 5 July, openly criticized Deputy Prime Minister Hüsamettin Özkan, one of the closest names to Ecevit. On 7 July, Bahçeli withdrew support from the coalition, and called for early elections. The next day, Özkan resigned, which was followed by the resignation of several ministers and half of DSP's parliamentary group, with most of them joining the New Turkey Party, founded by foreign minister Cem. With the resignations, the coalition government lost its numerical support in the parliament. A summit held on 16 July between the leaders of the coalition government resulted in the decision to hold early elections on 3 November 2002. In the vote held in parliament on at the end of July, 449 out of 514 deputies voted to hold an early election. Allegations of corruption, the economic crisis, as well as Ecevit's poor health resulted in DSP facing electoral wipeout in the 2002 general election, attaining only 1.2% of the vote and losing all of its MPs. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) entered parliament with a comfortable majority and governs Turkey to this day. In a press conference held on 22 May 2004 Ecevit announced Zeki Sezer as his successor to DSP, and resigned as chairman. He officially left active politics in that summer, Ecevit died of circulatory and respiratory failure at 22:40 on Sunday, 5 November, 2006, 172 days after he entered a vegetative state. Immediately after his death the Grand National Assembly passed a law to allow for prime ministers and speakers of parliament to also be buried in the Turkish State Cemetery (Devlet Mezarlığı) in Ankara, which allowed Bülent to be buried there. Upon Rahşan's death in January 2020, the parliament voted to also have civilians be buried in the State Cemetery, allowing her to be interred there too. A state funeral was held on 11 November 2006 at the State Cemetery after a funeral prayer in Kocatepe Mosque, attended by approximately a million people from all 81 provinces and from many countries, especially from Northern Cyprus. Five former presidents also attended the funeral.

Against the advice of the Turkish military, Ecevit visited Fethullah Gülen's schools and spoke highly of them. In 1997, the Journalists and Writers Foundation, of which Gülen was an honorary chairman of, presented Ecevit (and Demirel) with the "Award for National Reconciliation in the Field of Politics". During the escalation of the 1997 military memorandum crisis, Chief Public Prosecutor Nuh Mete Yüksel prepared an indictment against Gülen. Footage of Gülen's speeches years ago were broadcast on a multitude of television channels in which Gülen presented about "how they [the Gülen movement] should be structured in the bureaucracy". Questioned about Gülen's statement later on, Prime Minister Ecevit defended Gülen in an interview, saying that he hasn't seen any suspicious behavior in his schools, which provide secular education inline to the principles of Atatürk. While deputy prime minister, Ecevit requested the Italian Ambassador to greet Gülen when he went to Rome in 1998, which drew a reaction from general Çevik Bir. Kavakçı did not show up to the second session of parliament, and her MP status was later terminated. They had no children. He also had the nickname "Halkçı Ecevit" (Populist Ecevit). Süleyman Demirel used the nickname "Allende Büllende" to compare his rival, Ecevit, to the Chilean socialist statesman Salvador Allende, who was overthrown and committed suicide in a military coup. Ecevit was also known as Kıbrıs Fatihi "Conqueror of Cyprus" after the Cyprus Operation during his premiership, and also as Kenya Fatihi "Conqueror of Kenya" after the operation to capture Abdullah Öcalan.

Ecevit holds a unique legacy in Turkey's political history for being its only left wing prime minister. In the lead up to the 2023 general elections, DSP chairman Önder Aksakal came out in support Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's presidential candidacy and was elected from the AKP's lists in the 2023 general elections. The Rahşan Bülent Ecevit Science Culture and Art Foundation stated that [today's] DSP has no connection with Ecevit's principles that "they should not pollute the names of Ecevit for their own interests."

Şiirler. [Poems]. 1976
Işığı Taştan Oydum. [I Carved the Light from the Stone]. Tekin Yayınevi. 1978
El Ele Büyüttük Sevgiyi. [We Grew Love Hand in Hand]. 1997
Bir Şeyler Olacak Yarın. [Something Will Happen Tomorrow]. Doğan Kitapçılık. 2005