Tarhan Erdem (1933 – 8 June 2022) was a Turkish politician who was the President of

KONDA Research and Consultancy KONDA Research and Consultancy (Turkish language, Turkish: ''KONDA Araştırma ve Danışmanlık'') is an S.A. (corporation), anonymous company in Turkey that specialises in public opinion polling and consultancy. It was founded in 1986 by Tarhan ...

, an

opinion polling An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

company. He was a member of 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) and briefly served as the Minister of Industry and Technology during the short-lived

40th government of Turkey The 40th government of Turkey (21 June 1977 – 21 July 1977) was a short term (one month) government that governed Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcont ...

headed by CHP leader

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 ...

between 21 June and 21 July 1977.

Early life and career

Erdem was born in

Kurucaşile Kurucaşile is a town in Bartın Province in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Kurucaşile District.

, Bartın, in 1933. He graduated from

Istanbul University , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

Faculty of Civil Engineering in 1959. He joined the

(CHP) in 1953 at the age of 20. Between 1959 and 1995, he served in various positions such as director and general co-ordinator in numerous companies including the ''

Milliyet ''Milliyet'' ( Turkish for "''nationality''") is a Turkish daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey. History and profile ''Milliyet'' came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 ...

'' newspaper.

Political career

Erdem was elected as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for the

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

Istanbul 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, ...

in the general election of 1977. The CHP won 41% of the vote, their highest vote share since 1950, but failed to win a parliamentary majority. The party's leader

attempted to form a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

. Erdem was appointed the Minister of Industry and Technology in Ecevit's government, taking office on 21 June 1977. The government, however, failed to achieve a vote of confidence in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, resulting in its dissolution on 21 July 1977 after just one month in office. The government was succeeded by a nationalist coalition formed by Justice Party (AP) leader

Süleyman Demirel Süleyman Sami Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously served as the ...

, which is often referred to as the ''Second Nationalist Front''. Erdem's membership of the Grand National Assembly came to an end after Parliament was dissolved on 12 September 1980 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 ...

, who led a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

against the government.

KONDA

After leaving the CHP, Erdem became a staunch critic of the party's new leader

Deniz Baykal Deniz Baykal (born 20 July 1938) is a Turkish politician at the Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, abbreviated CHP) who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 1996. Having served in ...

. His opinion polling company, KONDA, is known to be close to the

Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being: * Justice and Development Party (Morocco) * Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Justice and Development Party may also refer to: * Justice and Dev ...

(AKP) government. KONDA's predictions for the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and 2010 constitutional referendum were praised for being almost exactly accurate, however the company's predictions for the 2009 local election was widely seen as inaccurate. After the company's predictions for the 2014 presidential election emerged to have grossly overestimated Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's vote, KONDA issued a public letter of apology.

Death

Erdem died on 8 June 2022 in

Bodrum Bodrum () is a port city in Muğla Province, southwestern Turkey, at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Its population was 35,795 at the 2012 census, with a total of 136,317 inhabitants residing within the district's borders. Known in ancient t ...

Muğla Muğla () is a city in southwestern Turkey. The city is the center of the District of Menteşe and Muğla Province, which stretches along Turkey's Aegean coast. Muğla's center is situated inland at an altitude of 660 m and lies at a dista ...

following a heart disease. Three days later, he was buried at

Aşiyan Asri Cemetery The Aşiyan Asri Cemetery ( tr, Aşiyan Asri Mezarlığı) is a burial ground situated on Aşiyan between the Bebek, Istanbul, Bebek and Rumelihisarı neighborhoods of the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. Many renowned intellectuals, writers an ...

References

External links