Kemal Derviş | |
|---|---|
 Derviş in 2006 | |
| Administrator of theUnited Nations Development Programme | |
| In office 15 August 2005 – 28 February 2009 | |
| Secretary-General | Ban Ki-moon |
| Preceded by | Mark Malloch Brown |
| Succeeded by | Helen Clark |
| Minister of Economic Affairs | |
| In office 13 March 2001 – 10 August 2002 | |
| Prime Minister | Bülent Ecevit |
| Preceded by | Recep Önal |
| Succeeded by | Masum Türker |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1949-01-10)10 January 1949 Istanbul, Turkey |
| Died | 8 May 2023(2023-05-08) (aged 74) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Political party | Republican People's Party |
| Spouse | Catherine Derviş |
| Education | Institut Le Rosey |
| Alma mater | London School of Economics (BSc,MSc) Princeton University (PhD) |
Kemal Derviş (Turkish pronunciation:[keˈmaldɛɾviʃ]; 10 January 1949 – 8 May 2023) was a Turkish economist and politician who was head of theUnited Nations Development Programme. He was honored by the government of Japan for having "contributed to mainstreaming Japan's development assistance policy through the United Nations".[1] In 2005, he was ranked 67th in the Top 100 Public Intellectuals Poll conducted byProspect andForeign Policy magazines.[2][3] He was vice president and director of the global economy and development program at theBrookings Institution and part-time professor ofinternational economics at theGraduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.[4]
In March 2015, Derviş agreed to become theDeputy Prime Minister of Turkey responsible for the economy in a cabinet led byRepublican People's Party (CHP) leaderKemal Kılıçdaroğlu should his party form the government after thegeneral election to be held in June. He declined to become aMember of Parliament however, stating that he would prefer to participate in the cabinet from outside theParliament.[5]
Kemal Derviş was born on 10 January 1949 inIstanbul, Turkey, to an Albanian and Georgian father and a German mother.[6][7] From his father's side, he is a descendant ofOttomanGrand VizierHalil Hamid Pasha (1736–1785); and of Ottoman militaryphysician Asaf Derviş Pasha (1868–1928) who is regarded as the founder of moderngynaecology in Turkey.[8]
Derviş completed his early education inInstitut Le Rosey. He later earned hisbachelor (1968) and master's degrees (1970) in economics from theLondon School of Economics. He received his Ph.D. in economics fromPrinceton University in 1973 after completing a doctoral dissertation titled "Substitution, employment and intertemporal equilibrium in a non-linear multi-sector planning model for Turkey."[9] From 1973 to 1976, he was member of the economics faculty of theMiddle East Technical University inAnkara, Turkey, and served also as an advisor toBülent Ecevit during and after his Prime Ministerial duties. From 1976 to 1978, he was a member of the faculty, Department of Economics at Princeton University.[10]
In 1977, he joined theWorld Bank, where he worked until he returned to Turkey in 2001. At the World Bank, he held various positions, including division chief for industrial and trade strategy and director for the Central Europe Department after the fall of theBerlin Wall. In 1996, he became vice-president of the World Bank for the Middle East and North Africa Region, and in 2000, vice-president for poverty reduction and economic management.[11]
Derviş took office as Minister of State for Economic Affairs in Turkey on 13 March 2001, whenBülent Ecevit was Prime Minister.[12] Derviş is credited with being the architect of Turkey's successful three-year economic recovery program launched in that year. The health condition of elder statesmanBülent Ecevit, thePrime Minister and leader of the party led to rumours that his Deputy Prime minister and Minister of State,Hüsamettin Özkan, was plotting to replace him. As a result, Özkan was forced to resign, prompting nearly half of DSP'sparliamentarians to follow him, includingİsmail Cem, theMinister of Foreign Affairs.[13] Özkan,Zeki Eker, Cem and Kemal Derviş,the Minister of State in charge of economy, then decided to establish a newsocial democratic party. İsmail Cem became the leader of theNew Turkey Party (YTP).[14][15]
However, the party showed signs of organizational weakness. Moreover, Derviş changed his mind and joined theRepublican People's Party (CHP) instead.[16] As a result, the YTP performed dismally in the2002 general election (receiving only 1.2% of the eligible votes cast)[17] and again in the2004 local elections.[18] In October 2004, the YTP was merged into theRepublican People's Party (CHP). Before being named to head theUnited Nations Development Programme (UNDP), he was a member of theTurkish parliament, and a member of the joint commission of the Turkish andEuropean Parliaments. He was a member of theConvention on the Future of Europe.[19] A member of the Advisory Group at theCenter for Global Development,[20] member of the Task Force on Global Public Goods and the Special Commission on the Balkans and associated with the Economics and Foreign Policy Forum inIstanbul, Derviş was instrumental in strengthening Turkey's prospects of startingmembership negotiations with the European Union.[21]
Strobe Talbott announced that Derviş joined theBrookings Institution on 30 March 2009 as vice president and director of the Global Economy and Development program.[22][23]
On 10 June 2020, he published aProject Syndicate article titled "Less Globalization, More Multilateralism."[24] Derviş was also a regular contributor to Project Syndicate from 2003 to 2023.
When Derviş became Turkey's minister of economic affairs in March 2001, after a 22-year career at theWorld Bank, the country was facing its worst economic crisis in modern history and prospects for success were uncertain. Derviş used his independence from domestic interests and the support of domestic reformers and civil society to push through a stabilization program with far-reaching structural changes and bank reforms that protected state banks from political use. Derviş also strengthened the independence of the central bank and initiated deep structural reforms in agriculture, energy and the budget process.[25] These reforms, and his reputation and high-level contacts in the U.S. and Europe, is said to have helped him to mobilize $20 billion in new loans from theInternational Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Rapid economic growth resumed in 2002 and inflation came down from an average of nearly 70 percent in the 1990s to 12 percent in 2003; interest rates fell and the exchange rate for theTurkish lira stabilized.
Derviş resigned from his ministerial position on 10 August 2002 and was elected to parliament on 3 November of that year as a member of the main oppositionRepublican People's Party.[26]
On 5 May 2005, theUnited Nations General Assembly, representing 191 countries, unanimously confirmed Kemal Derviş as the Administrator of theUnited Nations Development Program, which is also the chairperson of theUnited Nations Development Group.[27] Derviş started his four-year term on 15 August 2005. The UNDP Administrator is the third-highest-ranking official in the United Nations, after theSecretary-General and theDeputy Secretary-General.
In 2006,United Nations Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan appointed Derviş to aHigh-level Panel on United Nations Systemwide Coherence, which was set up to explore how theUnited Nations system could work more coherently and effectively across the world in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and the environment.[28]
In 2009, Derviş decided not to seek a second term as Administrator of UNDP.[29]
Kemal Derviş spokeTurkish,German,English andFrench fluently.[30] He was married to Catherine Derviş, an American citizen.[31]
According to press reports, when he was still single and working at theWorld Bank, Derviş had an affair with a married female subordinate (her identity was not revealed) who reportedly later started working at the IMF.[30] This was speculated by the media as the possible reason why Derviş, despite being seen by many as the right person for the job, decided not to become a candidate to succeedDominique Strauss-Kahn as the next managing director of the IMF, a position which was eventually taken byChristine Lagarde.[30]
Kemal Derviş died inWashington, D.C., on 8 May 2023, at the age of 74.[32][33]
Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon (Japan), 2009.[1]_-_Crosses.svg)
Order of Civil Merit, Grand Cross (Spain), 2011.[34]{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Minister of Economic Affairs 2001–2002 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | Administrator of theUnited Nations Development Programme 2005–2009 | Succeeded by |
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