Necdet Calp (September 7, 1922 – September 13, 1998) was a Turkish civil servant and politician.

Early life

He was born in

Karamürsel Karamürsel is a town and district located in northwestern Turkey, on the coast of the Bay of Izmit in the province of Kocaeli. Before its conquest by the Ottomans it used to be called by the Greek name of Praenetos (Πραινετός in Greek ...

ilçe The 81 provinces of Turkey are divided into 973 districts (''ilçeler''; sing. ''ilçe''). In the early Turkish Republic and in the Ottoman Empire, the corresponding unit was the ''kaza''. Most provinces bear the same name as their respectiv ...

of Kocaeli Province, Turkey on 7 September 1922. He graduated from the Faculty of Political Science of

Ankara University Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The university has 40 vocat ...

in 1944. He also studied at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. He served as district governor, inspector in the

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

as well as province governor of

Siirt Siirt ( ar, سِعِرْد, Siʿird; hy, Սղերդ, S'gherd; syr, ܣܥܪܬ, Siirt; ku, Sêrt) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the seat of Siirt Province. The population of the city according to the 2009 census was 129,188. History Pr ...

and

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

. He also served as executive assistant to

İsmet İnönü Mustafa İsmet İnönü (; 24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish army officer and statesman of Kurdish descent, who served as the second President of Turkey from 11 November 1938 to 22 May 1950, and its Prime Minister three tim ...

, then prime minister of Turkey. During the military rule between 1980 and 1983, he was the undersecretary of the prime minister Bülent Ulusu.

Leader of the opposition

On 21 May 1983 together with Avni Güler, Engin Aydın and Turhan Timuçin, he founded People's Party ( tr, Halkçı Parti, HP) in the course of

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 ...

(Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP), which was closed by the military rule. He was elected as the chairman of the party. After the main rival

SODEP The Social Democracy Party ( tr, Sosyal Demokrasi Partisi, SODEP) of Turkey was one of the two main parties of Turkey in early 1980s but later on merged with the People's Party to form the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) in 1985. Ideolo ...

was banned from entering the election, the HP became the only party attractive for ex-CHP voters. Although he was not a well known name, he caused a nationwide excitement in a panel discussion on TV by his reaction to the proposal of privatization of İstanbul Bosphorus Bridge. In the election held on 6 November 1983, the HP received 30.5% of the votes and Necdet Calp, now PM from

Ankara Province Ankara Province ( tr, , ) is a province of Turkey with the capital city Ankara. Demographics History The site of the modern city has been home to settlements by many historic Anatolian civilizations in antiquity and classical times, in ...

, became the opposition leader.

The congress

In the local elections held on 21 March 1984, in which

also competed, the HP received 8.8%, which meant a loss of nearly 75% of its votes in less than five months. After learning the results, Calp resigned, but he was soon reelected as the chairman. However, during the reelection period, the opposition group in the party gained strength.Erdal İnönü:Anılar ve Düşünceler, Cilt III, Doğan Kitap, İstanbul, 2001, p.24 On the general congress of the party held on 29 June 1985, he lost his chair to

Aydın Güven Gürkan Aydın Güven Gürkan (May 10, 1941 Elazığ-January 22, 2006 Istanbul) was a Turkish academic and politician. Early life He was born in Elazığ on 10 May 1941. In 1963, he graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Ankara University. ...

Later years

After 1985, he did not participate in politics, and in the 1987 elections, he did not run for a seat in the parliament. On 13 September 1998, he died in Ankara as a result of a heart attack.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calp, Necdet 1922 births 1998 deaths People from Karamürsel Populist Party (Turkey) politicians Leaders of the Opposition (Turkey) Leaders of political parties in Turkey Deputies of Ankara Governors (Turkey) Turkish civil servants Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics Turkish political party founders