Following his legal career, Sezer became a candidate for the presidency with the joint support of many political parties in Parliament. Following the2000 presidential election, he took an ardent secularist approach on issues such as theheadscarf, holding the view that secularism in Turkey was under threat. A quarrel between Sezer and Prime MinisterBülent Ecevit in 2001 led to afinancial meltdown, attributed to the weakness of the coalition government as well as to the large debt owed to theInternational Monetary Fund.
The landslide victory of the conservative IslamistJustice and Development Party (AKP) in the2002 general election led to strong opposition from President Sezer, who vetoed several proposed laws and referred others to theConstitutional Court. These included laws on banking reform and the lifting of the political ban onRecep Tayyip Erdoğan. During receptions at the presidential palace, Sezer refused to allow women wearing the headscarf to attend citing the laws on theseparation of religion and state at the time; this resulted in the wives ofAbdullah Gül and Erdoğan,Hayrünnisa Gül andEmine Erdoğan respectively, being barred from attendance. Erdoğan later said in public that he had 'suffered a lot' from Sezer.[3]
After finishing Afyonkarahisar High School in 1960, he graduated from theAnkara University Faculty of Law in 1962 and began his career as a judge inAnkara. Following his military service at the Military Academy, he served first as a judge inDicle andYerköy, and then became a supervisory judge in theHigh Court of Appeals in Ankara. In 1978, he received an LL.M. in civil law from the Faculty of Law in Ankara University.
On 8 March 1983, Sezer was elected as a member of theHigh Court of Appeals. As a member of the Second Chamber of Law, he was nominated by the plenary assembly of the High Court of Appeals as one of the three candidates for appointment as member of theConstitutional Court. Five years later on 26 September 1988, he was appointed as a member of the Constitutional Court by PresidentKenan Evren and was reappointed for another five years in 1993 by PresidentsTurgut Özal (who nominated him) andSüleyman Demirel (who confirmed his position, since the latter died in office).
On 6 January 1998, Ahmet Necdet Sezer was elected aschief justice of the Constitutional Court and served until his resignation in 2000, when he was elected as president.
He waselected president and sworn in on 16 May 2000, becoming Turkey's first head of state to come from a judicial background. His term was due to expire on 16 May 2007, but because theGrand National Assembly of Turkey had failed to elect a new president, he retained the officepro tempore until 28 August 2007 (theConstitution of Turkey states that a president's term of office is extended until a successor is elected).
On 21 February 2001, during a quarrel in aNational Security Council meeting, he threw the constitutional code book at Prime MinisterBülent Ecevit. Some cite this falling-out as the main reason for what became known as 'Black Wednesday', a huge economic crisis. Others claimed that the rapid reforms called for by theaccession negotiations with theEuropean Union and Turkey's strong ties with theInternational Monetary Fund caused the crisis.[6]
Sezer was a firm defender ofsecularism in Turkey, a frequent point of contention between him and the rulingAKP party. On many occasions, he openly claimed that Turkey's secular regime was under threat.[7] Since he believes thatIslam does not require women to wearheadscarves, Sezer excluded legislators' wives who wore headscarves from official receptions at thePresidential Palace.[8]
During his presidency, hepardoned 260 convictedfelons, 202 of whom were capturedleftist militants.[9][10][11] (This type of pardon can be requested directly by the felon or the legal representative of the felon, but no political or court referral is necessary.) Some organisations have cited such pardons to criticise Sezer's presidency. On the other hand, Sezer also enacted harsher laws to punish people connected withterrorism.[12]
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