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 The prime minister of the Republic of Turkey (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Başbakanı'') was the head of government of the Republic of Turkey from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the Grand National Assembly of ...

. His first two prime-ministerial terms lasted just months (in 1991 and 1996), while the third ran from June 1997 to January 1999. The first was brought to an end by defeat in the 1991 elections, the latter two by the breakdown of Yılmaz' coalition governments.

Career

Of Hemshin and

Çayeli Çayeli ( lzz, მაფავრი, ) is a town and district of Rize Province on the Black Sea coast of eastern Turkey, 18 km east of the city of Rize. ''Çay'' means ''tea'' in Turkish and a large percentage of Turkey's tea is indeed gr ...

origin, Mesut Yılmaz was a rising star in the Motherland Party of

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 ...

, representing the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

province of

Rize Rize (Greek language, Greek: ρίζα, Laz language, Laz: რიზინი, Georgian language, Georgian: რიზე, , Ottoman Turkish: ريزه) is the capital city of Rize Province in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey. Rize ...

in the

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 ...

and serving in Özal's cabinet. He was State Minister for Information (December 1983), then Minister of Culture and Tourism (1986), and Minister of Foreign Affairs (December 1987 to February 1990). Upon Özal's election to the presidency in 1989, Yılmaz became the leader of an intraparty opposition to the new Prime Minister,

Yıldırım Akbulut Yıldırım Akbulut (; 2 September 1935 – 14 April 2021) was a Turkish politician, who was a leader of the Motherland Party (ANAP), the Prime Minister of Turkey, and twice the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. A lawyer by pro ...

Prime Minister

In June 1991 Yılmaz managed to discharge

from the party leadership and from all executive functions during the

biennial Biennial means (an event) lasting for two years or occurring every two years. The related term biennium is used in reference to a period of two years. In particular, it can refer to: * Biennial plant, a plant which blooms in its second year and th ...

party congress. Because ANAP had the majority in the

he subsequently became

in the 48th government of Turkey. However, in October ANAP came in second in the 1991 general election to

Süleyman Demirel Süleyman Sami 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 served as 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 ...

(DYP), and the DYP formed a coalition with the Social Democratic Populist Party ( 49th government of Turkey). The following years saw a decline in the popularity of the Motherland Party and an acrimonious relationship with

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 is Turkey's first and only female prime minister to date. As the leader of the True Path P ...

, leader of the center-right

(DYP). Yılmaz also made the Motherland Party more business-friendly and Europe-oriented, causing the more conservative, religious wing to switch to the

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 ...

(RP) of

Necmettin Erbakan Necmettin Erbakan (29 October 1926 – 27 February 2011) was a Turkish politician, engineer, and academic who was the Prime Minister of Turkey from 1996 to 1997. He was pressured by the military to step down as prime minister and was later ba ...

. In the December 1995 general election ANAP again came second, this time to the Welfare Party. After lengthy coalition negotiations Yılmaz formed a coalition with the DYP in March 1996 ( 53rd government of Turkey), but this lasted less than four months, falling to a censure motion led by the Welfare Party. President Demirel invited Erbakan to form a government, which he did, in coalition with the DYP. Erbakan's term was marked by the

Susurluk scandal The Susurluk scandal () was a scandal involving the close relationship among the deep state in Turkey, the Grey Wolves and the Turkish mafia. It took place during the peak of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, in the mid-1990s. The relationshi ...

, during the investigation of which Yılmaz admitted the existence of the

JİTEM Jandarma İstihbarat ve Terörle Mücadele or Jandarma İstihbarat Teşkilatı (abbr. ''JİTEM'' or ''JİT''; English: "Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism" or "Gendarmerie Intelligence Organization") is the unofficial and illegal intel ...

counter-terrorist Gendarmerie unit. The scandal led to the resignation of Erbakan's

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Mehmet Ağar Mehmet Kemal Ağar (born on 30 October 1951) is a Turkish former police chief, politician, government minister and leader of the Democratic Party. He was a police officer who rose to General Director of the General Directorate of Security (effect ...

(a leader of the True Path Party, DYP), following revelations that

Abdullah Çatlı Abdullah Çatlı (1 June 1956 – 3 November 1996) was a Turkish secret government agent, as well as a contract killer for the National Intelligence Organization (MİT). He led the Grey Wolves, the youth branch of the Nationalist Movement Party ...

, leader of the far-right

Grey Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

organisation, worked for the state. Yılmaz' concerns over his own safety, owing to his support of the Susurluk investigation, led to him briefly carrying a gun in self-defense. Yılmaz formed a government for the third time in June 1997, after the

had resigned from government following the February 1997 military memorandum. DYP and others expected to form a government under

, but President

asked Yılmaz to form the new government. Yılmaz created an ANAP- Democratic Left Party-

Democrat Turkey Party Democrat Turkey Party ( tr, Demokrat Türkiye Partisi, DTP) is a former political party in Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located ...

coalition which lasted until January 1999. Yılmaz' final term was marked by fallout from the investigations into the

, and further revelations of connections between politicians, police and mafia. When the attempt to privatize the Türk Ticaret Bankası to

Korkmaz Yiğit Korkmaz Yiğit (born 1943, in Erzincan) is a Turkish businessman. He made his fortune in construction, and expanded into finance and media, but fell rapidly from grace in 1998 when apparent connections with mob figure Alaattin Çakıcı were reve ...

blew up in October 1998 over

allegations In law, an allegation is a claim of an unproven fact by a party in a pleading, charge, or defense. Until they can be proved, allegations remain merely assertions.

of the involvement of mafia boss

Alaattin Çakıcı Aladdin ( ar, علاء الدين, commonly ) (various spellings and transliterations) is a male given name which means "nobility of faith" or "nobility of creed/religion". It is one of a large class of names ending with ad-Din. The name may refer ...

, Yılmaz' coalition did not last much longer. In October 1998, Yılmaz set off a furor in the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

by threatening to "poke out the eyes" of

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

over

Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad ', , (, 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from taking power in 1971 until his death in 2000. He was also Prime Minister of Syria from 1970 to 1 ...

's alleged support of the separatist

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 ...

Later career

Yılmaz continued as a politician, however, serving as a deputy prime minister in a coalition led by

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 ...

from 1999 to 2002. After his failure to win entry into the Grand National Assembly in 2002 elections, Yılmaz retired from politics to pursue a teaching career. He was charged by the state public prosecutor with corruption during his tenure as prime minister relating to the privatization of

Turkish Trade Bank 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 ...

. In 2006 the Supreme Court suspended the case for five years, so that the charges would be dropped if no similar charges arose in that period. Yılmaz announced that he would return to politics. In the 2007 general election he was elected as independent member of parliament from Rize. He died from complications of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

in 30 October 2020 and was buried at

Kanlıca Cemetery The Kanlıca Cemetery ( tr, Kanlıca Mezarlığı) is a burial ground located on the Asian part of Istanbul, Turkey. It is administered by the Metropolitan Municipality. Many prominent figures from the world of media and music rest here. Situat ...

two days later.

Personal life

He was married to Berna Yılmaz. The couple became parents to two sons, Hasan Yılmaz and Yavuz Yılmaz, the latter of which was found shot dead in his apartment in Istanbul in December 2017.

References

External links

Biography at Motherland Party's website

Personal Website

Biography at biyografi.net (Turkish)

THE AWAKENING OF THE CONVERTED ARMENIANS:Notes of an Investigative Journalist 1980-2011 ''Hamo Moskofian'' / Mesut Yılmaz, “Hamshen Armenians
PDF {{DEFAULTSORT:Yilmaz, Mesut 1947 births 2020 deaths People from Çayeli Deputies of Rize 20th-century prime ministers of Turkey Politicians from Istanbul Istanbul High School alumni Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences alumni University of Cologne alumni Motherland Party (Turkey) politicians Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Prime Ministers of Turkey Deputy Prime Ministers of Turkey Leaders of political parties in Turkey Ministers of Culture and Tourism of Turkey Leaders of the Opposition (Turkey) Turkish people of Hemshin descent Turkish politicians convicted of corruption Members of the 23rd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 21st Parliament of Turkey Members of the 20th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 45th government of Turkey Members of the 46th government of Turkey Members of the 47th government of Turkey Members of the 48th government of Turkey Members of the 53rd government of Turkey Members of the 55th government of Turkey Members of the 57th government of Turkey Ministers of State of Turkey Heads of government who were later imprisoned 20th-century Turkish politicians 21st-century Turkish politicians Deaths from lung cancer in Turkey Burials at Kanlıca Cemetery Centre-right politics in Turkey