Hasan Hüsamettin Özkan (born 1950) is a former

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

politician who served as the

Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey The Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey is the abolished official deputy of the head of government of Turkey. Conventionally all of the junior partners in a coalition get one deputy, and they are ranked according to the size of their respective part ...

between 1999 and 2002 in the 56th and 57th governments led by Prime Minister

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

. He was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for İstanbul's second electoral district from the Democratic Left Party (DSP) from 1991 to 2002. He was also a

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

during the coalition government led by Motherland Party (ANAP) leader

Mesut Yılmaz Ahmet Mesut Yılmaz () (6 November 1947 – 30 October 2020) was a Turkish politician. He was the leader of the Motherland Party ( tr, Anavatan Partisi, ANAP) from 1991 to 2002, and served three times as Prime Minister of Turkey. His first two p ...

between 1997 and 1999.

Early life and career

Of Circassian descent, Özkan was the youngest of seven children and was born in 1950 in the district of

Develi Develi, formerly known as Averak, is a town and district in Kayseri Province in Central Anatolia Region, Turkey. History The historical name of the town is Everek and it is called ''Averak'' (oren, ruin) in Armenian. The historian, geographer, ...

Kayseri Kayseri (; el, Καισάρεια) is a large Industrialisation, industrialised List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is comp ...

. He was educated at

Pertevniyal High School Pertevniyal High School of Istanbul was founded in 1872 by Pertevniyal Sultan, the mother of Sultan Abdulaziz. It cost 3520 gold coins to build the school. The school was forced to relocate after the fire of 1911, which destroyed much of downtown ...

and graduated from

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

School of Economics and Management (now

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 ...

. In 1968, he was a contestant in the Golden Lantern Dance Competition along with Tülin Aktan and came first. His brother, Necdet Özkan, was elected as the Mayor of İstanbul's

Bayrampaşa Bayrampaşa (pronounced ) is a suburban district of Istanbul, Turkey on the European side of the city. The mayor is Atila Aydıner (AK Party). History Up to 1936, Bayrampaşa was part of Fatih district. It was then part of Eyüp district betwe ...

district, after which he took over most of his family trade business.

Political career

Özkan joined the DSP in 1991 and became a

for İstanbul's second electoral district in the 1991 general election. He was perceived to be close to the party's leader

Minister of State

Having been re-elected as a Member of Parliament in the 1995 general election, the DSP entered a triple coalition government along with the Motherland Party (ANAP) and

Democrat Turkey Party Democrat Turkey Party ( tr, Demokrat Türkiye Partisi, DTP) is a former political party in Turkey, The party was founded by a group of MPs issued from the True Path Party on 7 January 1997. The chairman of the party was Hüsamettin Cindoruk, who ...

(DTP). The DSP-DTP-ANAP coalition was formed after the

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

between 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 ...

and the Islamist

Welfare Party The Welfare Party ( tr, Refah Partisi, 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 Nationa ...

broke down in 1997 as a result of the 1997 military memorandum. In the new coalition, ANAP leader

became Prime Minister, while DSP leader

and DTP member

İsmet Sezgin İsmet Sezgin (6 January 1928 – 7 December 2016) was a Turkish politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey and Minister of National Defense from 1997 to 1999, as the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly in 1995, as the Minist ...

became

Deputy Prime Ministers A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

. In this new government, Özkan was made

Deputy Prime Minister

The ANAP-DSP-DTP coalition broke down in 1999 after the

Türkbank scandal The Turkbank scandal was a political scandal in 1998 surrounding the relationship between the Turkish government, the private sector, and organized crime that led to the resignation of the prime minister Mesut Yılmaz and his cabinet in early 1999 ...

, with Ecevit forming a DSP-only minority government until the 1999 general election. Özkan was made

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

in this new government, serving alongside

Hikmet Uluğbay Hikmet Uluğbay (born 1939, Isparta, Turkey) is a Turkish politician. Biography In 1961, he completed the Faculty of Political Sciences of Ankara University. He received a degree from Southern California University. He served at Ministry of ...

. During his time as Deputy, he dealt with issues such as the Capture of Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

militant

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

. The DSP polled the highest in the 1999 general election, with Ecevit forming a coalition with the

Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party (alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party; tr, Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) is a Turkish far-right and ultranationalist political party. The group is often described as neo-fascist, and has been ...

(MHP) and the Motherland Party (ANAP). Özkan remained as Deputy Prime Minister, joined by the MHP's

Devlet Bahçeli Devlet Bahçeli (born 1 January 1948) is a Turkish politician, economist, former deputy prime minister, and current chairman of the far-right, ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). An academic in economics from Gazi University, Ba ...

and ANAP's

. During this government, he played a role in ensuring that the 2000 presidential election process did not result in parliamentary deadlock.

New Turkey Party

Concerns over Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit's health resulted in rumours that DSP politicians were plotting to oust him as leader. This led to Özkan, who was rumoured to be one of the dissident DSP parliamentarians, resigning from the DSP and becoming a co-founder of the New Turkey Party (YTP) along with

Zeki Eker Zeki Eker (born 1956 in Muş) is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin. He was the MP for Muş in the 21st Parliament of Turkey, representing the Democratic Left Party. During his time as MP, he served as the administrative chief of the parlia ...

and

İsmail Cem İsmail Cem (born İsmail Cem İpekçi, 15 February 1940 – 24 January 2007) was a Turkish centre-leftist politician, intellectual and journalist who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey from 1997 to 2002. Background İsmail Cem ...

. Many DSP MPs also joined the party, with the YTP heading for a strong showing in the 2002 general election. However, organisational difficulties and the decision of party member

Kemal Derviş Kemal Derviş (; born 10 January 1949) is a Turkish economist and politician, and former head of the United Nations Development Programme. He was honored by the government of Japan for having "contributed to mainstreaming Japan's development ass ...

to defect to the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party ...

(CHP) led to the YTP winning just 1.13% of the vote and falling far below the 10%

election threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

needed to win representation in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. As a result, Özkan resigned from the party and retired from active politics.

References

External links

Collection of all relevant news items at Haberler.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozkan, Husamettin Deputy Prime Ministers of Turkey Democratic Left Party (Turkey) politicians Members of the 20th Parliament of Turkey Living people 1950 births People from Kayseri Deputies of Istanbul Turkish political party founders