Başbuğ Alparslan Türkeş | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey | |
| In office 21 July 1977 – 5 January 1978 | |
| Prime Minister | Süleyman Demirel |
| Served with | Necmettin Erbakan |
| Preceded by | Orhan Eyüboğlu |
| Succeeded by | Turhan Feyzioğlu |
| In office 31 March 1975 – 21 June 1977 | |
| Prime Minister | Süleyman Demirel |
| Served with | Necmettin Erbakan Turhan Feyzioğlu |
| Preceded by | Zeyyat Baykara |
| Succeeded by | Orhan Eyüboğlu |
| Leader of the Nationalist Movement Party | |
| In office 8 February 1969 – 4 April 1997 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Muhittin Çolak (acting) |
| Member of the Grand National Assembly | |
| In office 10 October 1991 – 24 December 1995 | |
| Constituency | Yozgat (1991) |
| In office 10 October 1965 – 12 September 1980 | |
| Constituency | Ankara (1965) Adana (1969,1973,1977) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Hüseyin Feyzullah[1] (1917-11-25)25 November 1917 |
| Died | 4 April 1997(1997-04-04) (aged 79) Ankara, Turkey |
| Political party | CKMP (1965–1969) MHP (1969–1980), (1993–1997) MÇP (1987–1993) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 7, includingTuğrul,Ahmet andAyyüce |
| Alma mater | Kuleli Military High School Turkish Military Academy United States Army Command and General Staff College |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Turkey |
| Branch/service | Turkish Army |
| Years of service | 1933–1963 |
| Rank | Colonel |
Alparslan Türkeş[a] (Turkish pronunciation:[alˈpaɾsɫantyɾˈceʃ]; 25 November 1917 – 4 April 1997) was a Turkish politician, who was the founder and president of theNationalist Movement Party (MHP) and theGrey Wolves(Ülkü Ocakları). He ran theGrey Wolves training camps from 1968 to 1978. More than 600 people are said to have fallen victim ofpolitical murders by the Grey Wolves between 1968 and 1980.[5] He represented thefar-right of the Turkish political spectrum. He was and still is calledBaşbuğ ("Leader") by his devotees.[6]
Türkeş was born inNicosia,British Cyprus, to aTurkish Cypriot family in 1917.[7][8][9] His birth name is disputed, some claiming that it is Hüseyin Feyzullah,[10] while MHP claims it is Ali Arslan.[11] His paternal great-grandfather had emigrated to Cyprus fromPınarbaşı,Kayseri,Central Anatolia,Ottoman Empire, in the 1860s.[12] His father, Ahmet Hamdi Bey, was fromTuzla, nearFamagusta, and his mother, Fatma Zehra Hanım, was fromLarnaca.[13] However, in an interview with the scholarFatma Müge Göçek the journalistHrant Dink claimed that Türkeş was ofArmenian descent, an orphan originally fromSivas who was later adopted by a Muslim couple from Cyprus.[14] In 1932, with fifteen years of age, Türkeş emigrated to Istanbul, Turkey with his family.[15] He was enrolled into the military lycée inIstanbul in 1933 and completed his secondary education in 1936.[12] In 1938, he joined the army and his military career began.
Along with other nationalists likeNihal Atsız andNejdet Sançar,[16] Türkeş wascourt-martialed on charges of "fascist and racist activities" in 1945.[17] He spent 10 months in prison before he was released the same year. The charges were eventually dismissed in 1947.[16] The trial would become known as theRacism-Turanism trials.[18]
He attained fame as the spokesman of the27 May 1960 coup d'état against the government of Prime MinisterAdnan Menderes, who was later executed after theYassiada trial. He assumed a position as an undersecretary of the Prime Minister.[19] However Türkeş, together with13 other members of the junta [tr], declared their opposition to returning the power back to civilians and therefor were expelled by an internal coup within the junta (National Unity Committee).[20] Türkeş was sent into exile to the Turkish embassy inNew Delhi.[21] He returned in February 1963[22] and together with others of the fourteen, he later joined theRepublican Villager Nation Party (Turkish:Cumhuriyetçi Köylü Millet Partisi, CKMP).[23] Türkeş was elected as its chairman on 1 August 1965.[24] In 1969 the CKMP was renamed theNationalist Movement Party (Turkish:Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP).[25] As leader of the MHP he was also the de facto leader of theGrey Wolves. This far-right movement executed political murders, which began in 1968. More than 600 people are said to have fallen victim between 1968 and 1980.[5]
Türkeş served asDeputy Prime Minister in the right-wing National Front (Turkish:Milliyetçi Cephe) cabinets in the 1970s.[26] After theMilitary coup of 1980, he was imprisoned for more than four years and the Government demanded the death sentence for him as well as other Turkish nationalists. But in a turn of events he was released on 9 April 1985.[16] He rejoined the political arena within theNationalist Workers Party [tr] (MÇP) in 1987[16] and was elected to parliament representing the province ofYozgat on a ticket of theWelfare Party (RP) in 1991.[27] In 1992 the name Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) was relaunched in exchange of the name of the MÇP and the party logo of the three crescents was presented to the public.[16]
Through the far-right MHP, Türkeş took the rightist views of his predecessors likeNihal Atsız, and transformed them into a powerful political force. In 1965, Türkeş released a political pamphlet titledNine Lights Doctrine (Turkish:9 Işık Doktrini), which formed the basis of the nationalist ideology of the CKMP.[28] This text listed nine basic principles which were:nationalism;idealism;moralism;scientism; societalism;ruralism; libertism andpersonalism;progressivism andpopulism;industrialism andtechnologism.[29]
Hans-Lukas Kieser notes that although Türkeş openly identified with pan-Turkism and sympathised withNational Socialism as well asAdolf Hitler, he was still allowed to rise through the ranks of theTurkish Army and was even allowed to move to theUnited States in order to pursue military education and cooperation withinNATO.[30] Türkeş led the vanguard ofanti-communism in Turkey; he was a founding member of theCounter-Guerrilla, theTurkish Gladio.[21]
He has been the spiritual leader of the Idealism Schools Foundation of Culture and Art (Turkish:Ülkü Ocakları Kültür ve Sanat Vakfı). His followers consider him to be one of the leading icons of the Turkish nationalist movement.
The wellbeing of the greater Turkish nation living in a so-calledTuran, which according to him included Turks wherever they lived, be it inGreece,Cyprus or elsewhere, was key concern of his political views.[31] On 28 April 1978 he was received byFranz Josef Strauss, former minister for defense and finance in Germany and acting president of theCSU party.[32][33] In 1992, Alparslan Türkeş visitedBaku to supportAbulfaz Elchibey during theAzerbaijan presidential election. He also had a meeting withLevon Ter-Petrosyan, the President ofArmenia in the 1990s.[34]
Türkeş was married twice and had seven children.[35] He married Muzaffer Hanım in 1940 and had four daughters (Ayzit, Umay, Selcen and Çağrı) and one son (Tuğrul) with her. Their marriage lasted until his wife's death in 1974. By 1976 Türkeş married Seval Hanım and had one daughter (Ayyüce) and one son (Ahmet Kutalmış).[36]
Türkeş died of a heart attack at the age of 79 on 4 April 1997.[35][37] The announcement of his death was delayed for five hours while nationwide security measures were implemented; thereafter, thousands of his supporters went to the Bayindir Hospital chanting "Leaders never die".[38] His funeral was held inKocatepe Mosque inAnkara.[38]
Türkeş's youngest son,Ahmet Kutalmış Türkeş, is a member of theJustice and Development Party and was elected as anIstanbul deputy in 2011. However, he resigned several days before theJune 2015 elections, protesting the party's plans to transform the parliamentary system into a presidential one.[39][40]
In 2015, Türkeş's eldest son,Tuğrul Türkeş, became the first person ofTurkish Cypriot origin to beDeputy Prime Minister of Turkey.[41] In September 2015, Türkeş made his first official visit toNorthern Cyprus.[42] As an independent parliamentarian, Türkeş has criticized theNationalist Movement Party (founded by his father) and theRepublican People's Party for their unwillingness to compromise, which led to theNovember 2015 elections.[43]
Türkeş was a key figure in shapingTurkish nationalism and revivingPan-Turkism from the 1940s onwards. Soon after his death in 1997, Turkish PresidentSüleyman Demirel stated that his passing had been a "great loss to the political life of Turkey". Similarly, Turkey's first female Prime MinisterTansu Çiller described him as a "historic individual".[38]
Adana Alparslan Türkeş Science and Technology University was named after him.
When he died, it was revealed that he had embezzled 2 trillion lira from the European Turkish Federation. The pan-Turkist group had created a secretslush fund to support theSecond Chechen War and helpAbulfaz Elchibey succeed in Azerbaijan.[44] The money was formerly administered byEnver Altaylı, who had been part of the Azerbaijan coup plot. His daughters, Ayzıt and Umay Günay, quarreled over who was the rightful owner despite the fact that it was neither of them.[45] The two appeared before the Ankara 7th High Penal Court for fraud. The indictment said that Türkeş' account in a U.K. branch of theDeutsche Bank held 575,000 DM, US$845,000, and 367,000 GBP.[46] The court concluded that Ayzıt had withdrawn 200,000 GBP while Umay Günay had withdrawn 42,000 GBP.[47] Ayzıt said that she had been living in the UK since 1975, and that her father opened the account in 1988, giving her complete access to it. She said that her father had instructed her to fulfill his financial obligations in support of "the cause of Turkishness" upon his death by making certain payments.[48] Türkeş' second wife, Seval, refuted Ayzıt's claim that she had not kept the money to herself. Seval claims that she and her sons' Ayyüce and Ahmet Kutalmış share of the withdrawn 242,000 GBP is 112,355 GBP.[47]
The MHP's chairman, Devlet Bahçeli, instructed his deputies to keep mum, fearing that the scandal could lead to the dissolution of the party.[49]
The case was closed due to thestatute of limitations.[50]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey 1975–1977 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey 1977–1978 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the Republican Peasant's Nation Party (CKMP) 1965–1969 | Succeeded by renamed to MHP |
| Preceded by renamed from CKMP | Leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) 1969–1997 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
