This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Turkey |
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The following is a complete list of Presidents of Turkey , consisting of the twelve [heads of state] since the inception of the republican period in 1923, following the Turkish War of Independence.
The President of the Republic of Turkey is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Turkey. Following the 2018 general election, the incumbent office-holder assumed the role of an Executive President and holds both ceremonial and executive status. In this capacity, the President represents the Republic of Turkey, and the unity of the Turkish nation, as well as ensuring the implementation of the Constitution of Turkey and the organized and harmonious functioning of the organs of state. The articles from 101 to 106 of the Constitution establish all the requirements, election, duties, and responsibilities for the office of the President. The office of the President of Turkey was established with the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey on 29 October 1923. The President of Turkey is often referred to as the Cumhurbaşkanı, meaning 'President of the People'.
The Republic of Turkey was created after the overthrow of Sultan Mehmet VI Vahdettin by the new Republican Parliament in 1922. This new regime delivered the coup de grâce to the Ottoman state which had been practically wiped away from the world stage following the First World War.
The Turkish War of Independence was fought between the Turkish National Movement and the proxies of the Allies – namely Greece on the Western Front, Armenia on the Eastern, France on the Southern, the royalists and the separatists in various cities, and with them, the United Kingdom and Italy in Constantinople – after parts of the Ottoman Empire were occupied and partitioned following the Ottomans' defeat in World War I. Few of the occupying British, French, and Italian troops had been deployed or engaged in combat.
For a list of rulers of the predecessor Ottoman Empire, see List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire.
The Ottoman Empire, historically known in Western Europe as the Turkish Empire or simply Turkey, was a state that controlled much of Southeast Europe, Western Asia and North Africa between the 14th and early 20th centuries. It was founded at the end of the 13th century in northwestern Anatolia in the town of Söğüt by the Oghuz Turkish tribal leader Osman I. After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans, the Ottoman beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror.
The Republican People's Party is a Kemalist, social-democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest political party in the country, and is currently the main opposition in the Grand National Assembly. The CHP describes itself as "a modern social democratic party, which is faithful to the founding principles and values of the Republic of Turkey". The party is cited as "the founding party of modern Turkey". Its logo consists of the Six Arrows, which represent the foundational principles of Kemalism: republicanism, nationalism, statism, populism, laicism, and reformism.
The Democratic Party was a Turkish moderately right-wing political party, and the country's third legal opposition party, after the Liberal Republican Party established by Ali Fethi Okyar in 1930, and the National Development Party established by Nuri Demirağ in 1945. Founded and led by Celâl Bayar, it was the first of the opposition parties to rise to power, de-seating the Republican People's Party during the national elections of 1950 and ending Turkey's one party era. The party facilitated the resurgence of Islam, especially at the popular level, in Turkey.
The Justice Party was a Turkish political party prominent in the 1960s and 1970s. A descendant of the Democrat Party, the AP was dominated by Süleyman Demirel, who served six times as prime minister, and was in office at the time of the military coup on September 12, 1980. Along with all other political parties in Turkey, the Justice Party was suppressed in the immediate aftermath of the coup. It was subsequently re-established as the True Path Party in 1983.
No. | Name (Birth–Death) | Portrait | Term of office | Political party | Previous Office | Elected | |||
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1 | Parliamentary system (1923–2018) | ||||||||
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) | 29 October 1923 | 1 November 1927 | Republican People's Party | 1st Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey | 1 | 1923 | |||
1 November 1927 | 4 May 1931 | 2 | 1927 | ||||||
4 May 1931 | 1 March 1935 | 3 | 1931 | ||||||
1 March 1935 | 10 November 1938 [1] | 4 | 1935 | ||||||
— | Abdülhalik Renda (1881–1957) | 10 November 1938 | 11 November 1938 | Republican People's Party | 4th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly | — | — | ||
2 | İsmet İnönü (1884–1973) | 11 November 1938 | 3 April 1939 | Republican People's Party | 1st Prime Minister of Turkey | 5 | 1938 | ||
3 April 1939 | 8 March 1943 | 6 | 1939 | ||||||
8 March 1943 | 5 August 1946 | 7 | 1943 | ||||||
5 August 1946 | 27 May 1950 | 8 | 1946 | ||||||
3 | Celâl Bayar (1883–1986) | 27 May 1950 | 14 May 1954 | Democrat Party | 3rd Prime Minister of Turkey | 9 | 1950 | ||
14 May 1954 | 1 November 1957 | 10 | 1954 | ||||||
1 November 1957 | 27 May 1960 [2] | 11 | 1957 | ||||||
4 | National Unity Committee Chairman: General Cemal Gürsel | 27 May 1960 | 10 October 1961 | Military | 10th Commander of the Turkish Army | — | |||
Cemal Gürsel (1895–1966) | 10 October 1961 | 2 February 1966 [3] | Independent | Chairman of the National Unity Committee | 12 | 1961 | |||
— | İbrahim Şevki Atasagun (1899–1984) | 2 February 1966 | 28 March 1966 | Independent | — | — | |||
5 | Cevdet Sunay (1899–1982) | 28 March 1966 | 28 March 1973 | Independent | 12th Chief of the General Staff of Turkey | 13 | 1966 | ||
— | Tekin Arıburun (1903–1993) | 28 March 1973 | 6 April 1973 | Justice Party | 4th Chairmen of the Senate of Turkey | — | — | ||
6 | Fahri Korutürk (1903–1987) | 6 April 1973 | 6 April 1980 | Independent | 3rd Commander of the Turkish Navy | 14 | 1973 | ||
— | İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil (1908–1993) | 6 April 1980 | 12 September 1980 [4] | Justice Party | 6th Chairmen of the Senate of Turkey | — | — | ||
7 | National Security Council Chairman: General Kenan Evren | 12 September 1980 | 9 November 1982 | Military | 17th Chief of the General Staff of Turkey | — | |||
Kenan Evren (1917–2015) | 9 November 1982 | 9 November 1989 | Independent | Chairman of the National Security Council | 15 | 1982 | |||
8 | Turgut Özal (1927–1993) | 9 November 1989 | 17 April 1993 [1] | Motherland Party | 19th Prime Minister of Turkey | 16 | 1989 | ||
— | Hüsamettin Cindoruk (born 1933) | 17 April 1993 | 16 May 1993 | True Path Party | 17th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly | — | — | ||
9 | Süleyman Demirel (1924–2015) | 16 May 1993 | 16 May 2000 | True Path Party | 12th Prime Minister of Turkey | 17 | 1993 | ||
10 | Ahmet Necdet Sezer (born 1941) | 16 May 2000 | 28 August 2007 | Independent | 14th President of the Constitutional Court of Turkey | 18 | 2000 | ||
11 | Abdullah Gül (born 1950) | 28 August 2007 | 28 August 2014 | Justice and Development Party | 40th Minister of Foreign Affairs | 19 | 2007 | ||
12 | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 1954) | 28 August 2014 | 9 July 2018 | Justice and Development Party | 25th Prime Minister of Turkey | 20 | 2014 | ||
Presidential system (2018–present) | |||||||||
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 1954) | 9 July 2018 | Incumbent | Justice and Development Party | 25th Prime Minister of Turkey | 21 | 2018 | |||
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey was the head of government of the Republic of Turkey from 1920 to 2018. The prime minister was the leader of a political coalition in the Turkish parliament (Meclis) and the leader of the cabinet. The last holder of the position is Binali Yıldırım of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), who took office on 24 May 2016.
The Çankaya Mansion was the official residence of the Presidency and until 2018 was the residence of the Premiership of Turkey. It is located in the Çankaya district of Ankara, which lends its name to the palace. The Çankaya Campus is home to several buildings, including the mansion and stretches over 438 acres of land with its unique place in the history of the Turkish Republic. The Çankaya Campus houses Atatürk's Museum Mansion, the Çankaya Mansion, the office of the Chief Aide-de-Camp, the Glass Mansion, State Supervision Council, the Financial Affairs and Preservation Directorate buildings, Press Conference Hall, reception halls, fire department building, social facility, garage, greenhouse, artificial turf sports area, tennis court and employee lodgings.
The Presidential Complex is the presidential residence of the Republic of Turkey. The complex is located in the Beştepe neighborhood of Ankara, inside the Atatürk Forest Farm.
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey, usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament, is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the National Campaign. The parliament was fundamental in the efforts of Mareşal Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, 1st President of the Republic of Turkey, and his colleagues to found a new state out of the remnants of the Ottoman Empire.
İsmet Sezgin was a Turkish politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey and Minister of National Defence from 1997 to 1999, as the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly in 1995, as the Minister of the Interior from 1991 to 1993, as the Minister of Finance from 1979 to 1980 and as the Minister of Youth and Sports from 1969 to 1971. Between 1999 and 2002, he served as the Leader of the Democrat Turkey Party, but did not contest any elections.