Oğuzhan Asiltürk (25 May 1935 – 1 October 2021) was a Turkish politician. He served as Minister of Industry and Technology and

Minister of the Interior 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 ...

as well as chairman of the executive board of the

Felicity Party The Felicity Party (, SAADET) is an Islamism, Islamist Turkey, Turkish political party. It was founded in 2001, and mainly supported by conservative Muslims in Turkey. It was founded on 20 July 2001 after the Virtue Party (Turkey), Virtue Party ...

Biography

Asiltürk attended secondary school in

Malatya Malatya (; ; Syriac language, Syriac ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city has been a human settlement for thousands of y ...

. He studied at the School of Civil Engineering at

Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University, also known as Technical University of Istanbul (, commonly referred to as İTÜ), is an public university, public technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third-oldest technical university ...

and began his career as a freelance consultant and engineer. He married Sevinç Asiltürk, with whom he had four children. Asiltürk was elected to the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the Unicameralism, unicameral Turkey, Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by ...

in 1973, representing

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

. While serving as a deputy, he was also appointed Minister of the Interior, where he served in 1974 and again from 1975 to 1977. He was then appointed Minister of Industry and Technology and held the position from 1977 to 1978. He was banned from politics for 10 years in 1980. The ban was lifted following the

1987 Turkish constitutional referendum A constitutional referendum was held in Turkey on 6 September 1987 to amend temporary article 4 of the constitution, which had forbidden the leaders of banned parties (a total of 242 people) from taking part in politics for ten years. The govern ...

and he became Secretary General of the

Welfare Party The Welfare Party (, 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 National Salvation Party ...

. In 1991, he was once again elected to the Grand National Assembly, representing Malatya and he joined the

Virtue Party Virtue Party (, FP) was an Islamist political party established on 17 December 1997 in Turkey. It was found unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court and then banned on 22 June 2001 for violating the secularist articles of the Constitution. A ...

. He remained in office until 2002. Following the death of

Necmettin Erbakan Necmettin Erbakan (29 October 1926 – 27 February 2011) was a Turkish politician and political theorist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Turkey from 1996 to 1997. He was pressured by the military to step down as prime minister and was la ...

, Asiltürk joined the

and became chairman of its executive board. He met with

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

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 ...

on 7 January 2021, a meeting in which Asiltürk alleged that the President told him the

Istanbul Convention The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, is a International human rights instruments, human rights treaty of the Council of Europe oppos ...

would be lifted in the country. The President's decision was made official on 20 March 2021, and Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention. On 13 September 2021, Asiltürk was taken to Ankara Bilkent City Hospital due to shortness of breath from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. He died of a heart attack on 1 October 2021, at the age of 86. He was interred at Cebeci Asri Cemetery.

References