Bedrettin Dalan (born 18 July 1941) is a Turkish engineer, former politician and the first mayor of Greater

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

. He is the founder of ''İSTEK Vakfı'', a foundation for education and culture, and

Yeditepe University Yeditepe University is a private foundation university situated in Istanbul, Turkey. Established by the Istanbul Education and Culture Foundation ( tr, İstanbul Eğitim ve Kültür Vakfı, İSTEK Vakfı) in 1996, Yeditepe University now claims t ...

in Istanbul. He was charged in the

Ergenekon trials The Ergenekon trials were a series of high-profile trials which took place on 2008–2016 in Turkey in which 275 people, including military officers, journalists and opposition lawmakers, all alleged members of Ergenekon, a suspected secularist ...

, and was the subject of an

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

red notice An Interpol notice is an international alert circulated by Interpol to communicate information about crimes, criminals, and threats by police in a member state (or an authorised international entity) to their counterparts around the world. The in ...

. In late 2011 Germany declined a request to extradite Dalan. Prosecutors claimed that Dalan was the organization's "number three", and was one of the architects of the 1997 post-modern coup.

Background

Bedrettin Dalan is a Kurd born in 1941 in

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from "old" and "city") is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the ...

, Turkey, to a family which came from a village of

Bayburt Province Bayburt Province ( tr, ) is a province of Turkey. Located in the Northeast Anatolia region of the country, the capital city is Bayburt, and with a population of 74,412 is the least-populous province in Turkey. Geography Bayburt is traversed by ...

in eastern

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

to work for the

Turkish State Railways The State Railways of the Republic of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryolları), abbreviated as TCDD, is a government-owned national railway company responsible with the ownership and maintenance of railway infrastructure in Turkey ...

. After finishing high school in

Germencik Germencik is a town and a district of Aydın Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. Geography Germencik is located in the middle of the fertile Büyük Menderes (Meander) plain, inland from the Aegean coastal town of Kuşadası, on the Aydı ...

, Aydın, where he lived with his parents and seven siblings, Dalan attended the Faculty of

Maçka Maçka ( el, Ματζούκα, Matzoúka, the "club"; Laz language, Laz: მაჩხა ''Maçxa'') is a town and district of Trabzon Province in the Black Sea Region, Turkey, Black Sea region of Turkey. The name derives from the medieval Greek ...

at the

Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University ( tr, İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, commonly referred to as ITU or The Technical University) is an international technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third-oldest technical universit ...

, and graduated in 1963 with a degree in electrical engineering.

Political career

In 1983, he joined

Turgut Özal Halil Turgut Özal (; 13 October 192717 April 1993) was a Turkish politician, who served as the 8th President of Turkey from 1989 to 1993. He previously served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey from 1983 to 1989 as the leader of the Mothe ...

to found a center-right party, the Motherland Party (Anavatan Partisi, ANAP). Dalan was elected mayor of Greater İstanbul that was established as a metropolitan municipality on March 23, 1984. He served in this position from March 26, 1984 until March 28, 1989. During this time, he set up the principals of the metropolitan municipality system in Turkey, and invested in the infrastructure of the ever-expanding city of

İstanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

such as the sewer system, transportation and recreation areas. The blue-eyed politician is best remembered for his promise "''the waters of the

Golden Horn The Golden Horn ( tr, Altın Boynuz or ''Haliç''; grc, Χρυσόκερας, ''Chrysókeras''; la, Sinus Ceratinus) is a major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey. As a natural estuary that connects with t ...

will be the same color as my eyes''". He served as deputy chairman of the World Local Governments Union and as president of the Organization of the Capitals and Cities of Islamic Countries and also of the World Metropolitans Union. He was listed on the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on th ...

Global 500 Roll of Honour The Global 500 Roll of Honour was an award given from 1987 to 2003 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The award recognized the environmental achievements of individuals and organizations around the world. A successor system of UNEP ...

in 1987. After losing his post to

Nurettin Sözen Nurettin Sözen (born 1937 in Gürün) is a Turkish doctor, politician and the former mayor of Istanbul, Turkey. He graduated from Istanbul University and then became a professor in 1978. He was elected as the mayor of Istanbul on March 28, 198 ...

, the candidate of the SHP in the regional elections of 1989, he founded his own party, the Democratic Center Party (Demokrat Merkez Partisi, DMP) on May 17, 1990, and became its leader. The DMP merged on September 14, 1991 with the right-wing,

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

party of Süleyman Demirel, the

True Path Party The True Path Party ( tr, Doğru Yol Partisi, 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 ...

(Doğru Yol Partisi, DYP). In the general elections held that year, he ran for membership of the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, and was elected deputy of İstanbul Province. After serving one term in parliament, he finally quit politics.

Later career

Bedrettin Dalan worked as a top executive in business, and lectured at

Marmara University Marmara University ( Turkish: ''Marmara Üniversitesi'') is a public university in Istanbul, Turkey. The university is named after the Sea of Marmara and was founded as a university in 1982. However, it was created in 1883 under the name of ''H ...

and Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts. Dedicating himself to education, he founded İstanbul Eğitim ve Kültür Vakfı (İSTEK Vakfı), a foundation, which opened a number of prestigious private educational institutions in İstanbul such as primary and secondary schools, middle and high schools. In 1996, the foundation established a university in İstanbul, the Yeditepe University. Bedrettin Dalan acts as the president of the board of trustees of the foundation. He is married to Ayseli Dalan and they have two sons, Barış and Altay Burak.

Ergenekon trials

During excavations in

Poyrazköy Poyrazköy is the name of a village (village Poyraz, tr: Poyrazköy) in Beykoz district, Istanbul Province. According to the last census, Poyraz had 904 inhabitants (as of the end of December 2010). Poyraz lies at the exit of the Bosporus into the ...

Beykoz Beykoz (), also known as Beicos and Beikos, is a district in Istanbul, Turkey at the northern end of the Bosphorus on the Anatolian side. The name is believed to be a combination of the words bey and ''kos'', which means "village" in Farsi. Bey ...

district, Istanbul that lasted from 21 to 28 April 2009 arms including 21 LAW arms, 14 hand grenades and 450 grams explosives were found. The discovery resulted in a separate court case known as the Poyrazköy case. The arms were found on the land of Dalan's Istek Foundation. Dalan was charged in the

, and the subject of an

as he was abroad at the time. In late 2011 Germany declined a request to extradite Dalan.Today's Zaman, 15 December 2011
Germany refuses to extradite Ergenekon suspect Dalan
In mid-2009 the accountant of Dalan's Yeditepe University left the country having emptied its accountants of TL5m.Today's Zaman, 6 August 2009

/ref> Prosecutors claim that Dalan was Ergenekon's "number three", and was one of the architects of the 1997 "post-modern coup".Today's Zaman, 1 May 2009
Dalan was Ergenekon’s number three, says prosecution

Bibliography

* ''Haliç. Neydi, Ne Oldu?'' (''Golden Horn. What Was It? What Did It Become?)''

References

Newspaper ''Vatan''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalan, Bedrettin 1941 births Living people People from Eskişehir Istanbul Technical University alumni Leaders of political parties in Turkey Mayors of Istanbul Motherland Party (Turkey) politicians Democratic Center Party (Turkey) politicians Democrat Party (Turkey, current) politicians Deputies of Istanbul Turkish Kurdish politicians 20th-century Turkish politicians Turkish political party founders