A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Süleyman Demirel, 1924-2015

Demirel and Bill Clinton, 1999
Süleyman Demirel, many times Prime Minister of Turkey and ultimately its President, has died at the age of 90. As head of the Justice Party and later the True Path Party, he served as Prime Minister 1965-1971 (deposed by military coup, sporadically for several terms in  1975-1980 (again deposed by military coup), mostly alternating with the Republican People's Party's Bülent Ecevit, and finally from 1991-1993. From 1993 until 2000 he served as Turkey's 9th President.

I'll let my Turkish readers judge Demirel's legacy. Coming soon after the recent death of Kenan Evren, and the recent elections, it is also a reminder underscoring how Turkey has changed since the seventies and eighties.

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