Sadettin Tantan (born 1 January 1941) is the

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

politician who is the founder and current leader of the Homeland Party (

: ''Yurt Partisi'', YURT-P) since 2002. He was a former member of the Motherland Party (ANAP) and served as the

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 ...

between 1999 and 2001 under the DSP-ANAP-MHP coalition led by

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 ...

Early life and career

Born in

Sapanca Sapanca is a town and district in the Sakarya Province in the Marmara region of Turkey near Lake Sapanca. The town's mayor is Özcan ÖZEN ( AKP). Sapanca has recently become a tourist destination, due to its stunning natural environment and it ...

Sakarya Province Sakarya ( tr, ) is a province in Turkey, located on the coast of Black Sea. The Sakarya River creates a webbing of estuaries in the province, which is in the Marmara Region. The adjacent provinces are Kocaeli to the west, Bilecik to the south, ...

on 1 January 1941 as the son of a Laz father and a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

mother. Tantan studied at the Police Institute and graduated from the

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from "old" and "city") is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the ...

Academy of Economic and Commercial Sciences Faculty of Management. He received his master's degree from

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 ...

Institute of Business Administration and went to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

to improve his foreign language skills.

Police career

He began work as a deputy commissioner in the General Directorate of Security, working in the Narcotics and Law Departments of the police forces in Eskişehir, Bursa and İstanbul. He served as the Head of the Provincial Police Departments in

Giresun Giresun (), formerly Cerasus (Ancient Greek: Κερασοῦς, Greek: Κερασούντα), is the provincial capital of Giresun Province in the Black Sea Region of northeastern Turkey, about west of the city of Trabzon. Etymology Giresun wa ...

and

Tekirdağ Tekirdağ (; see also its other names) is a city in Turkey. It is located on the north coast of the Sea of Marmara, in the region of East Thrace. In 2019 the city's population was 204,001. Tekirdağ town is a commercial centre with a harbour ...

. Between 1980 and 1990, he served as the President of the İstanbul Specialised Wrestling Club. He also served as the President of the Wrestling Federation between December 1991 and December 1993.

Politics

Mayor of Fatih (1994-99)

Tantan joined the Motherland Party (ANAP) in 1994 and was selected as the party's candidate to become the Mayor of İstanbul's Fatih District for the 1994 local elections. He was elected and served as the district's mayor for five years. In 1999, there was speculation that ANAP could select him as a candidate for the Mayor of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality for the 1999 local elections. He was instead selected as a candidate to become a Member of Parliament#Member of Parliament for İstanbul's second electoral district in the 1999 general election.

Minister of the Interior (1999-2001)

After being elected as a Member of Parliament in the 1999 general election, Tantan was appointed as the

in the triple party coalition that included the Democratic Left Party (DSP), the

Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party (alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party; tr, Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) is a Turkish far-right and ultranationalist political party. The group is often described as neo-fascist, and has been ...

(MHP) and the Motherland Party. The coalition was headed by DSP leader

. As Interior Minister, Tantan received media coverage for his numerous anti-corruption operations. He was removed from office in a reshuffle on 6 June 2001 and was offered the position of

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

responsible for customs. He rejected the position and resigned from the Motherland Party.

Homeland Party (2002-present)

Tantan co-founded the Homeland Party in January 2002 and was elected leader of the party in an Extraordinary Congress on 25 August 2002, replacing Hakan Önder. The party won 294,909 vote (0.93%) in the November 2002 general election and lost the three MPs that had defected to the party prior to the election, having fallen far below the 10%

election threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

needed to win representation in Parliament. The party was unable to contest the 2011 general election due to formal irregularities in submitting required documents to the Supreme Electoral Council. The party put forward mayoral candidates in

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, ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

but failed to win any municipalities. In the June 2015 general election, the party won 9,289 votes (0.02% of the vote) and again failed to win any parliamentary representation.

Personal life

Tantan is married and has six children and nine grandchildren.

References

External links

Collection of all relevant news items at Haberler.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tantan, Sadettin Ministers of the Interior of Turkey Living people Turkish people of Laz descent Turkish people of Georgian descent 1941 births Motherland Party (Turkey) politicians Members of the 21st Parliament of Turkey Deputies of Istanbul Members of the 57th government of Turkey People from Sapanca Turkish political party founders