Mehmet Recai Kutan (born 1930) is a Turkish politician and the former leader of

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 ...

(SP).

Biography

Kutan graduated from

ITU The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...

, Department of

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

in 1952. Until 1973, he worked as an engineer in various projects including the GAP. His political career started 1973 in MSP and after 1983 he served in

Refah 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 National ...

. He was Minister of Energy in 1996 in a coalition led by Refah Party. At the 3rd party congress held on 26 October 2008 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 ...

, he did not run for his re-election as the leader of the SP, and was succeeded by

Numan Kurtulmuş Prof. Dr. Numan Kurtulmuş (born 23 March 1959) is a Turkish politician and academician, currently the deputy chairman of Justice and Development Party. He served as Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey in the 62nd, 63rd, 64th and 65th AKP governm ...

. He is a member of the İsmailağa, a Turkish sufistic community of the

Naqshbandi The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نه‌قشه‌به‌ندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...

tariqah A tariqa (or ''tariqah''; ar, طريقة ') is a school or order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking ''haqiqa'', which translates as "ultimate truth". ...

Footnotes

References

Biography
1930 births Living people People from Malatya National Salvation Party politicians Welfare Party politicians Virtue Party politicians Felicity Party politicians Government ministers of Turkey Leaders of political parties in Turkey Istanbul Technical University alumni Leaders of the Opposition (Turkey) Deputies of Malatya Ministers of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Members of the 21st Parliament of Turkey Members of the 20th Parliament of Turkey Naqshbandi order {{Turkey-politician-stub