İsmail Cem (born İsmail Cem İpekçi, 15 February 1940 – 24 January 2007) was a Turkish centre-leftist politician, intellectual, writer, author and journalist who served as the Minister of Culture of Turkey from July 7 to October 26, 1995, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey from June 30, 1997 to July 11, 2002.

Background

İsmail Cem finished high school at

Robert College The American Robert College of Istanbul ( or ), often abbreviated as Robert or RC, is a Selective school, highly selective, Independent school, independent, mixed-sex education, co-educational, Education in Turkey#Private schools, private Second ...

in İstanbul in 1959 and graduated from the Law School at the

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second-oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in 1963. He had his master's degree in sociology of politics at the

École Libre des Sciences Politiques Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

in 1983,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He was an exchange student with

AFS Intercultural Programs AFS Intercultural Programs (or AFS, originally the American Field Service) is an international youth exchange organization. It consists of over 50 independent, not-for-profit organizations, each with its own network of volunteers, professional ...

at Piedmont High School, Piedmont California for one year during his high school years after Işık Koleji. Cem was the cousin of murdered liberal-leftist journalist, intellectual and human rights activist

Abdi İpekçi Abdi İpekçi (9 August 1929 – 1 February 1979) was a Turkish journalist, intellectual and human rights activist. He was murdered when he was editor-in-chief of one of the main Turkish daily newspapers '' Milliyet'' which then had a cent ...

, the editor in chief for then centre-leftist Milliyet newspaper. Cem was the son of İhsan İpekçi (1901-1966), who was one of the pioneers of the Turkish cinema industry, as the founder and partner of İpek Film, and several popular Istanbul movie theaters including Yeni Melek and İpek and his mother Zerife. İsmail Cem was an avid photographer, and held four photo exhibits in his lifetime, and published a book ''Mevsim, Mevsim'' (''Seasons, Seasons'').

Journalism

Returning home in 1963, Cem started his professional career as a journalist. He worked in some major newspapers who published articles and became a columnist for

Milliyet ''Milliyet'' ( Turkish for "''nationality''") is a daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey. History and profile ''Milliyet'' came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 May 1950 ...

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: "Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Press ...

and Politika, where he served as the editor in chief for the second newspaper from 1964 until 1966. Between 1971 and 1974, he served as the chief of the Istanbul office within the Turkish Newspaper Workers Union. In 1974–1975, he acted as the general manager of the state-owned

Turkish Radio and Television Corporation The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish: ) is the national public broadcasting, public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio broadcaster in Turkey. Before the introductio ...

(TRT) under the 37th and 38th governments. Cem's tenure as the general manager of TRT, then the only TV station in Turkey, created some controversy. The conservatives and prominent right-wing figures like future

President of Turkey The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye (), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the national government and is the commander-in-chief of the ...

Süleyman Demirel Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously serv ...

used their political and social influence to remove İpekçi from his post in several attempts, which have all proven fruitless.

Writing career

Among with his political and journalistic successes, İpekçi is also known as one of the ideologists of social democracy in Turkey, and was counted among the prominent figures within the Turkish centre-left. İpekçi, who advocated a moderate agenda in a time of political turmoil, wrote extensive accounts of the economic and social factors lying beneath Turkey's underdevelopment and theorized methods for the revitalization of Turkish left. Among his books are ''Turkiye'de Geri Kalmışlığın Tarihi'' (A History of Underdevelopment in Turkey), one of the most acclaimed books in the field of social sciences in Turkey and ''Sosyal Demokrasi Nedir?, Ne Değildir?'' (What is and What is not Social Democracy?), one of the first books to introduce social democracy to Turkish politics. İpekçi's books, characterized by their plain but informative nature, are still popular and are growing even more popular, especially in light of the current dissent against AKP's

Islamism Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...

and the debate of reformation in Turkish left. He is also labeled as the visionary of th
"Anatolian Left (Anadolu Solu)"
. A more detailed bibliography of his works can be found below.

Political career

He entered politics after being elected deputy of

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

from the

Kadıköy Kadıköy () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district on the Asian side of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 25 km2, and its population is 467,919 (2023). It is a large and populous area in the Asian si ...

district in the general elections held in 1987. He was re-elected in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

again from Istanbul and in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

from

Kayseri Kayseri () is a large List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. Historically known as Caesarea (Mazaca), Caesarea, it has been the historical capital of Cappadocia since anc ...

. After the death of President

Turgut Özal Halil Turgut Özal (13 October 192717 April 1993) was a Turkish politician, bureaucrat, engineer and statesman who served as the eighth president of Turkey from 1989 to 1993. He previously served as the 26th prime minister of Turkey from 1983 ...

in 1993, he ran for president without success. In 1995, Cem left 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 joined the Democratic Left Party (DSP). He was then appointed Minister of Culture. He served as minister of foreign affairs from 30 June 1997 until 11 July 2002. He was the fourth longest-serving minister of this position in Turkey.

Relations with the European Union

He negotiated candidate status for Turkey's bid to join the European Union as foreign minister. He was largely credited with Turkey's declaration as a full member candidate during the Helsinki Summit Meeting in 1999, after much negotiation with the EU and a night trip by EU foreign policy chief

Javier Solana Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga CYC (; born 14 July 1942) is a Spanish physicist and PSOE politician. After serving in the Spanish government as Foreign Affairs Minister under Felipe González (1992–1995) and as the Secretary Gener ...

and the then European Commissioner

Günter Verheugen Günter Verheugen (; born 28 April 1944) is a German politician who served as European Commissioner for Enlargement from 1999 to 2004, and then as European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry from 2004 to 2010. He was also one of five vic ...

to Ankara to iron out the last details.

Relations with Greece

Cem and his

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

counterpart

George Papandreou George Andreas Papandreou (, , shortened to ''Giorgos'' () to distinguish him from his grandfather; born 16 June 1952) is an American-born Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2009 to 2011. He is currently serving as a ...

worked to improve Turkish-Greek relations. It is during his tenure as foreign minister that a confident, albeit a step-by-step approach was taken towards a

rapprochement In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word ''rapprocher'' ("to bring together"), is a re-establishment of cordial relations between two countries. This may be done due to a mutual antagonist, as the German Empire ...

between Turkey and Greece. The relations were actually at an all-time low after the

Abdullah Öcalan Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1948 or 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish; Kurdish for "uncle"), is a founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from 1979 to 1998. He ...

affair, whereby Greek Foreign Minister

Theodoros Pangalos Theodoros Pangalos (, romanized: ''Theódoros Pángalos''; 11 January 1878 – 26 February 1952) was a Greek general, politician and dictator. A distinguished staff officer and an ardent Venizelist and anti-royalist, Pangalos played a leading r ...

and some officials of the Greek Foreign Ministry were involved in hiding organization PKK leader prior to his arrest by the Turkish police. İpekçi and Papandreou picked up the historically hostile relationships initially starting with some confidence measures.

Later political career and illness

After a dispute with the party leader

Bülent Ecevit Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in 197 ...

, he resigned from the Democratic Left Party (DSP) ahead of 2002 parliamentary elections and formed the New Turkey Party (YTP) on 20 July 2002 together with his former party colleague Hüsamettin Özkan and Zeki Eker. İsmail Cem was elected leader of YTP, which did not do well in the elections. Returning from the United States, where he was due to medical treatment of pulmonary cancer, he closed YTP on 24 October 2004, joining the CHP, despite newly affiliated with the SDHP until his death. İsmail Cem was acting as the chief advisor to

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 ...

, the leader of CHP, and lectured in Applied Foreign Politics of Turkey at the

Istanbul Bilgi University Istanbul Bilgi University () is a private university founded in 1996, located in Eyüpsultan, Istanbul, Turkey. The university has four campuses in Istanbul: SantralIstanbul, Kuştepe, Dolapdere, and Kozyatağı. History The university was ...

until his death. He was married to Elçin Trak, and the couple had a daughter, İpek Cem Taha, and a son, Kerim Cem.

Funeral

İsmail Cem died on 24 January 2007 in İstanbul after suffering for two years from lung cancer. He was honored with a

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...

, at which Speaker of the Parliament

Bülent Arınç Bülent Arınç (; born 25 May 1948) is a conservative Turkish politician. He served as the 22nd Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey from 2002 to 2007 and as a Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey between 2009 and 2015. He also co-founded the Just ...

, Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

, current and former leaders of the political parties, his close friend former Minister of Foreign Affairs of

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, George Papandreou and Greek Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Theodoros Kasimis attended. He was interred at the

Zincirlikuyu Cemetery The Zincirlikuyu Cemetery () is a modern burial ground in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. It is administered by the Metropolitan Municipality. Many prominent figures from the world of politics, business, sports and arts rest here. The ce ...

. Papandreou laid on his grave a branch from the olive tree they both had planted 2000 in Greece as a symbol of peace.

Legacy

İsmail Cem was especially admired by young people in Turkey during his time as a foreign minister. Some polls indicated that young people desired to see Cem as

. İsmail Cem's biography written by Turkish political scientist Ozan Örmeci
"Portrait of a Turkish Social Democrat: İsmail Cem"
and its Turkish versio
"Bir Türk Sosyal Demokratı: İsmail Cem"
found many readers among Turkish intellectuals and showed Cem's unique place in Turkish social democratic movement.

Bibliography

* ''Türkiye'de Geri Kalmışlığın Tarihi'' (''History of Under Development in Turkey''), 512 pp, Can, * ''Türkiye Üzerine Yazılar'' (''Articles on Turkey'') * ''12 Mart'' (12 March) (Referring to 12 March 1971, the date of military coup) * ''TRT'de 500 Gün'' (''500 Days at TRT'') (TRT is the Turkish state television) * ''Siyaset Yazıları'' (''Notes about Politics'') * ''Geçiş Dönemi Türkiye'si'' (''Turkey in a Period of Transition'') * ''Sosyal Demokrasi ya da Demokratik Sosyalizm Nedir, Ne Değildir?'' (''What is, What is not Social Democracy Or Democratic Socialism?''), 311 pp, Can, * ''Türkiye'de Sosyal Demokrasi'' (''Social Democracy in Turkey'') * ''Engeller ve Çözümler'' (''Obstacles and Solutions'') * ''Yeni Sol, Sol'daki Arayış'' (''The New Left, Seek in the Left''), 340 pp, Can, * ''Gelecek İçin Denemeler'' (''Essays about the Future''), 344 pp, Can, * ''Türkiye, Avrupa, Avrasya I, Strateji-Yunanistan-Kıbrıs'' (''Turkey, Europe, Eurasia I, Strategy-Greece-Cyprus''), 298 pp, Istanbul Bilgi University (2004), * ''Avrupa'nın Birliği ve Türkiye'' (''Union of Europe and Turkey''), 364 pp, Istanbul Bilgi University (2005),

Awards

In 2000, Cem was honored by US-based "East West Institute" think tank with the Statesman of the Year award together with the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs

for fostering closer relations between the two nations.

References

External links

Biography
, Can Press
Fransa'daki Türkler toplu suç işlemeli
Can Dündar's Web site
Biography
, Istanbul Bilgi University Press

Secretary Colin L. Powell,

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cem, Ismail 1940 births 2007 deaths Turkish secularists Turkish socialists Turkish Marxists Turkish social democrats Turkish democracy activists Academic staff of Istanbul Bilgi University Leaders of political parties in Turkey Ministers of foreign affairs of Turkey 20th-century Turkish non-fiction writers Robert College alumni Journalists from Istanbul Turkish photographers Ministers of culture of Turkey Burials at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery Deaths from lung cancer in Turkey Workers' Party of Turkey politicians Social Democracy Party (Turkey) politicians Social Democratic People's Party (Turkey) politicians Dönmeh Turkish jurists Turkish civil servants Milliyet people Cumhuriyet people Deputies of Istanbul University of Lausanne alumni Members of the 21st Parliament of Turkey Members of the 20th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 50th government of Turkey Members of the 55th government of Turkey Members of the 56th government of Turkey Members of the 57th government of Turkey 20th-century Turkish journalists Turkish expatriates in Switzerland Turkish political party founders 21st-century Turkish non-fiction writers