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 ( tr, Saadet Partisi, SP) is an Islamist 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 (FP) was banned by the C ...

Biography

Asiltürk attended secondary school in

Malatya Malatya ( hy, Մալաթիա, translit=Malat'ya; Syro-Aramaic ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ku, Meletî; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a large city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city ha ...

. He studied at the School of Civil Engineering at

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 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 ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

in 1973, representing

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

. 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 and he became Secretary General of 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 ...

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

Virtue Party Virtue Party ( tr, Fazilet Partisi, 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 ...

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

, 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: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

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 human rights treaty of the Council of Europe against violence against women and domestic v ...

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 a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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

Cebeci Asri Cemetery The Cebeci Asri Cemetery ( tr, Cebeci Asri Mezarlığı) is a cemetery located in the Cebeci quarter of central Ankara, Turkey serving multiple religions. It was the first modern burial place in the capital city, and is the final resting place of m ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asiltürk, Oğuzhan 1935 births 2021 deaths Turkish politicians Government ministers of Turkey Members of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey National Salvation Party politicians Welfare Party politicians Virtue Party politicians Felicity Party politicians Istanbul Technical University alumni People from Hekimhan Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey 20th-century Turkish politicians 21st-century Turkish politicians Turkish civil engineers 20th-century Turkish engineers 21st-century Turkish engineers Burials at Cebeci Asri Cemetery