Rahşan Ecevit (''née'' Aral, 17 December 1923 – 17 January 2020) was a Turkish author, painter and politician. She was the second lady of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

four times during her husband

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 ...

's prime ministries.

Biography

She was born in

Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...

to a family from

Şebinkarahisar Şebinkarahisar is a town in and the administrative seat for Şebinkarahisar District, Giresun Province in the Black Sea region of northeastern Turkey. Name The 6th century Byzantine historian Procopius writes that the Roman general Pompey captu ...

, a town in the north-eastern Giresun province. Her father was Namık Zeki Aral and her mother Zahide Aral. Their family came from

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

after the population exchange agreement in 1920. In 1944 Rahşan graduated from the American high school

Robert College The American Robert College of Istanbul ( tr, İstanbul Özel Amerikan Robert Lisesi or ), often shortened to Robert, or RC, is a Selective school, highly selective, Independent school, independent, mixed-sex education, co-educational Secondary ...

İstanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. She married her classmate

in 1946. Following the military coup in 1980 led by General

Kenan Evren Ahmet Kenan Evren (; 17 July 1917 – 9 May 2015) was a Turkish politician and military officer, who served as the seventh President of Turkey from 1980 to 1989. He assumed the post by leading the 1980 military coup. On 18 June 2014, a Turkish ...

, her husband was imprisoned and was suspended from active politics for life. Bülent Ecevit's party, 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), was closed down. On 14 November 1985, Rahşan founded a

centre left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ce ...

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

party, the Democratic Left Party (DSP), and led it until her husband's ban from politics was lifted in 1987. Rahşan Ecevit was the vice president of the Democratic Left Party and responsible for the party's organization between 1989 and 2004. She became the leader of the new

Democratic Left People's Party Democratic Left People's Party ( tr, Demokratik Sol Halk Partisi, DSHP) was a short-lived political party in Turkey. It was founded by ex-members of Democratic Left Party, led by Rahşan Ecevit. Its founding leader was Hulki Cevizoğlu. Cevizo� ...

(DSHP) on 17 January 2010 when the DSP seemed to no longer have any chance to win seats in elections. After

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (born Kemal Karabulut, 17 December 1948) is a Turkish economist, retired civil servant and social democratic politician. He is leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and has been Leader of the Main Opposition in T ...

had become the leader of the CHP and halted the rightist trend within the party, she disbanded her new party and with many members joined the now rather social democratic CHP. On 5 November 2006, her husband died following an almost 6-month long medically induced coma. Rahşan Ecevit died on 17 January 2020 at a hospital in

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 ...

and was buried next to her husband in the

Turkish State Cemetery The Turkish State Cemetery ( tr, Devlet Mezarlığı) is a national and military cemetery in Ankara, Turkey, containing the graves of the presidents of Turkey and the high-ranked, close companions-in-arms of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder ...

a few days later.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ecevit, Rahsan 1923 births 2020 deaths People from Bursa Democratic Left Party (Turkey) politicians Alumni of Arnavutköy American High School for Girls 20th-century Turkish women politicians Democratic Left People's Party politicians Female party leaders of Turkey Burials at Turkish State Cemetery Rahsan 21st-century Turkish women politicians

Biography

See also

References

External links