Temel Karamollaoğlu (born 20 September 1941) is a Turkish engineer and politician who is currently the leader 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 ...

(SP) since 2016. A prominent Islamist, Karamollaoğlu was the Mayor of

Sivas Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is a ...

from 1989 to 1995 and served twice 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

from 1977 to 1980 and from 1996 to 2002.

Early life and career

Temel Karamollaoğlu, originally from

Gürün Gürün is a town and a district of Sivas Province of Turkey. The mayor is Nami Çiftçi ( MHP). History Toponymy The current name Gürün is most probably a corruption of the ancient name Tegarama, a city in Anatolia during the Bronze Age. ...

, a district of

, was born on June 7 1941 in Kahramanmaraş as one of the seven children of Üzeyir and Münire Karamollaoğlu couple. After completing his primary and secondary education in various provinces due to his father's duty as a teacher, he graduated from

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

Science and Technology Institute textile technology department in 1964, where he went on a scholarship in the 1960s. He completed his master's degree at the same university in 1967. In the same year he returned to Turkey and began working as a project engineer. In 1967, he worked as a specialist in the State Planning Organization. Between 1967 and 1972, he worked as a textile sector specialist at DPT. Karamollaoğlu, who worked in the private sector for two years after his military service, served as the Incentive and Implementation General Manager of the Ministry of Industry and Technology in 1975. Karamollaoğlu, who speaks fluent English, has been married since 1965 and has 5 children.

Political life

In 1977, he was elected as a deputy of

from the

National Salvation Party The National Salvation Party ( tr, Millî Selâmet Partisi, MSP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey, founded on 11 October 1972 as the successor of the banned National Order Party (''Millî Nizam Partisi'', MNP). The party was formed by a ...

and he was, one year later, elected as a member of the party general assembly in 1978. After the

1980 Turkish coup d'état The 1980 Turkish coup d'état ( tr, 12 Eylül Darbesi), headed by Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren, was the third coup d'état in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the previous having been the 1960 coup and the 1971 coup by ...

, he remained out of active politics until the 1987 Turkish constitutional referendum. In the 1980s, he worked as a private consultant for a while and then held administrative positions in a textile company. He entered the parliament after the 1995 Turkish general election as a deputy of Sivas 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 ...

. During this period, he served as a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. At the same time, he was elected as the

group vice president. He continued this duty until the

was shut down. Later, 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 ...

after the

was dissolved by the Constitutional Court. He was re-elected as a deputy of Sivas in the 1999 Turkish general election. At the

(SP) congress held in May 2000, he was elected as a member of the general administrative board and was appointed as the vice president responsible for foreign affairs. Karamollaoğlu was appointed as leader of the

in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karamollaoğlu, Temel Felicity Party politicians Living people People from Sivas People from Kahramanmaraş Turkish Islamists Deputies of Sivas Mayors of places in Turkey Members of the 20th Parliament of Turkey 1941 births Alumni of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology Virtue Party politicians Welfare Party politicians National Salvation Party politicians