İrfan Gürpınar (1943 – 7 December 2020) was a Turkish politician. He was aligned center-left and served two brief terms as Turkey's tourism minister.
Early life
Gürpınar was born in Kırklareli in 1943. After high school he attended
Istanbul University
Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...
's Faculty of Law and went on to work as a lawyer.
Career
He stood for parliament as a candidate of the
Social Democratic Populist Party
The Social Democratic Populist Party or Social Democratic Popular Party (, abbreviated SHP) was a political party in Turkey that formed after the fusion of the Social Democracy Party (''Sosyal Demokrasi Partisi'', SODEP) of Erdal İnönü and th ...
(SHP) in
Kırklareli
Kırklareli () is a city in the East Thrace, European part of Turkey. It is the seat of Kırklareli Province and Kırklareli District.election of 29 November 1987. He was one of three deputies elected from the province.
Gürpınar retained his seat at the subsequent election on 20 October 1991, again standing for the SHP, which formed a ruling coalition with the
True Path Party
The True Path Party (, DYP) was a centre-right political party in Turkey, active from 1983 to 2007. For most of its history, the party's central figure was Süleyman Demirel, a former Prime Minister of Turkey who previously led the Justice Part ...
(DYP).
On 29 January 1995, the SHP merged with the
Republican People's Party
The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...
(CHP), and a few weeks later, on 7 March 1995, Gürpınar received his first ministerial appointment, succeeding Şahin Ulusoy as
minister of tourism
The Minister of Tourism is the head of the governmental department that specializes in tourism, recreation and/or culture.
The position exists in many countries under several names:
*Ministry of Tourism and Environment (Albania)
*Ministry of Touri ...
Tansu Çiller
Tansu Çiller (; born 24 May 1946) is a Turkish academic, economist, and politician who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Turkey from 1993 to 1996. She was Turkey's first and only female prime minister. As the leader of the True Path Party ...
. He served in this role for seven months. Activities during Gürpınar's first term include a visit to Damascus 11–14 April 1995 that resulted in an executive protocol for tourism cooperation between Turkey and Syria.
On 5 October 1995, CHP leader
Deniz Baykal
Deniz Baykal (20 July 1938 – 11 February 2023) was a Turkish politician. A member of the Republican People's Party (CHP) who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 1996. Having served in numerous governmen ...
withdrew his party from the ruling coalition with the DYP in an attempt to trigger a fresh election and boost the CHP's position in the parliament. Consequently, all CHP ministers including Gürpınar lost their appointments and Tansu Çiller operated a minority government during the period 5–30 October 1995, with Bilal Güngör serving as minister of tourism. The government lost a confidence vote on 13 October, and by 30 October Baykal and Çiller reached an agreement to reinstate the coalition government until parliamentary elections could be held. Gürpınar resumed his position as tourism minister.
Gürpınar stood as a CHP candidate at the 25 December 1995 national election. Although he was reelected, the CHP barely exceeded the 10 percent national threshold to receive any seats and lost 39 seats overall. No party had a majority in the resulting parliament, but it was clear that the largest was the Islamist
Welfare Party
The Welfare Party (, RP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey. It was founded by Ali Türkmen, Ahmet Tekdal, and Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, National Order Party (MNP) and National Salvation Party ...
(RP) with 158 of the 550 seats. This was a concern for the secular establishment and for Turkey's military, as religion had been rigorously excluded from politics since the founding of the Turkish Republic. While negotiations continued among the four secular parties on forming a coalition, Tansu Çiller stayed in office as prime minister with the same cabinet as before the election. Consequently, Gürpınar's second term as tourism minister ran from 30 October 1995 to 6 March 1996. This came to an end when the caretaker government was replaced by a coalition of two center-right parties, the DYP and the Motherland Party (ANAP). The new minister of tourism was
Işılay Saygın
Işılay Saygın (April 4, 1947 – July 26, 2019) was a Turkish architect, politician, and four-time government minister between 1995 and 1999.
İşilay Saygın was born to Osman Nuri Saygın and his wife Fatma in Buca district of İzmir Provinc ...
, a DYP deputy who had previously served as minister of women's and family affairs and minister of the environment.
While Gürpınar remained a deputy representing Kırklareli for the rest of the 20th parliament, neither he nor his party returned to government. During this time out of government, Gürpınar was the sponsor of a March 1997 bill proposing the establishment of Kırklareli University and March 1998 bill proposing a Turkey Hoteliers Association Law. Neither bill became law, but Kırklareli University was ultimately founded in 2007.
At the 18 April 1999 election, the CHP gained only 8.7 percent support nationwide, and was therefore awarded no deputies in parliament. Kırklareli was represented by two deputies from the Democratic Left Party (DSP) and one from ANAP.
After leaving parliament, Gürpınar was still a senior member of the CHP leadership.
Personal life and death
Gürpınar was married and had one child. He died from
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
in
Ankara
Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...
on 7 December 2020, at age 77, during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include f ...
. His funeral took place at the Parliament building on 8 December, attended by his family and politicians including Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy and the CHP leadership. Following prayers at Abdurrahman Karamanlıoğlu Mosque he was buried at Gölbaşı Cemetery.