Bülent Ecevit

Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (Turkish: [mustaˈfa byˈlænt edʒeˈvit]; 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. His chairmanship resulted in the highest shares of votes CHP or any other left-wing party have ever gained in Turkish history. He is credited for introducing social democratic politics to Turkey by synthesizing Kemalism with social democracy, thus making social democracy a core tenet in modern Kemalist ideology. Ecevit is the last non-AKP Prime Minister of Turkey.