Yıldırım Aktuna (1930 – September 29, 2007) was a Turkish

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

, politician, district mayor and government minister in a number of cabinets.

Early years

He was born 1930 in Istanbul. After completing the high school in

Karşıyaka Karşıyaka () is a district of İzmir Province in Turkey. The district extends for twelve kilometres along the northern and eastern coastline of the tip of the Gulf of İzmir. Its centre is at a distance of to the north from the traditional ...

, Izmir in 1948, Yıldırım Aktuna attended the School of Medicine of the University of Istanbul as a cadet. In 1954, he graduated with Doctor of Medicine degree in the rank of a lieutenant.

Military career

His first post was chief physician officer of the 26th Brigade at the 66th Army Division. After completing a one-year English language course at the Army Language School in Ankara, Aktuna was sent to the United States, where he attended advanced education in general medicine at the Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio between 1958–1959. Having returned home, Aktuna specialized in neuropsychiatry at the Gülhane Military Medical Academy in Ankara, finishing in 1962. He then served in the army as medical officer at various places in Turkey. Between 1967–1989, he was lecturer at the Kabul Military Hospital in Afghanistan. In 1970, he retired from the Turkish Army in the rank of a

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Civil service

Switched over to civil service, he firstly was appointed Assistant Chief Physician at the Psychology Clinic of Şişli Children's Hospital in Istanbul. He later became the chief of that clinic. Between 1972–1973, Aktuna sojourned in Austria to pursue advanced studies in neurology and

electroencephalography Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The biosignals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neocortex ...

(EEG) at the Neurological Clinic of the University of Vienna. In 1979, Yıldırım Aktuna was appointed Chief Physician of the Bakırköy Psychiatric Hospital in Istanbul, the largest of its art in the country. He modernized the hospital, and devoted himself to raise consciousness for public mental health and to develop contemporary policies on this subject. He established in 1983 an

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

and drug rehabilitation center within this hospital, the first facility in Turkey to conduct medical and psychotherapeutic treatment and research for dependency on

psychoactive substances A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior. T ...

as well. For these activities, he was honored several times by various organizations.

Politics

Yıldırım Aktuna resigned from his post on December 30, 1988, and entered politics joining the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP). On March 26, 1989, he was elected district mayor of Bakırköy in Istanbul, where he was much respected. After serving two and half years in the regional politics, Aktuna quit his post and joined the True Path Party (DYP) on August 27, 1991. Following the general elections, he entered the parliament on October 20, 1991 as a deputy of Istanbul. Yıldırım Aktuna served between 1991-1993 as Minister of Health in the cabinet of

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 ...

( 49th government). In 1993, Tansu Çiller appointed him Minister of State and government spokesman in her cabinet. ( 50th government ) After serving two years, he became Minister of Health again between 1996 and 1997 in the cabinets of Mesut Yılmaz and later of Necmettin Erbakan ( 53rd government and 54th government). From 1997 to 1999, Aktuna served Minister of State in the cabinet of Mesut Yılmaz. During his duty as Minister of Health, he prepared a healthcare reform programme and organized twice national healthcare congresses. Furthermore, he continued to support all the activities he initiated at the Bakırköy Psychiatric Hospital. Yıldırım Aktuna left the True Path Party (DYP) on May 30, 1996 keeping his membership in the parliament as an independent deputy. On July 1, 1997, he joined "Party for a Democratic Turkey" (DTP), which was founded some months ago by unsatisfied DYP politicians, and was appointed vice president by its leader Hüsamettin Cindoruk. He served as minister in the coalition cabinets from 1996 to 1998. However, he returned to DYP on November 24, 2001. Finally, he joined in 2003 the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a small party with leadership problems at that time.

Illness and death

Diagnosed with

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

in February 2007, he decided to undergo a P53-based gene therapy, which is applied in more than hundred hospitals in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

since 2004. For this purpose, he traveled the next month to

, where he stayed until August. Yıldırım Aktuna died on September 29, 2007 in the German Hospital, Istanbul, where he was brought from Bodrum, Muğla twelve days before. He was buried at the Zincirlikuyu Cemetery on October 2. He was succeeded by his son Oğul Aktuna and his divorced second wife Zeliha Berksoy, a theatre actress and the daughter of Turkish prima donna

Semiha Berksoy Semiha Berksoy (24 May 1910 – 15 August 2004) was a Turkish opera singer and paintress. Early life Semiha Berksoy was born in Çengelköy, Istanbul. Her mother was a painter. Semiha studied music and the visual arts at Istanbul Conservatory.S ...

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