Mehmet Ali Aybar (; 5 October 1908 – 10 July 1995) was a lawyer, member of the

Turkish parliament The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

, the second president of the

Workers Party of Turkey Workers' Party of Turkey (''Türkiye İşçi Partisi'') was a Turkish political party, founded the 13 February 1961. It became the first socialist party in Turkey to win representation in the national parliament. It was banned twice (after the mi ...

( tr, Türkiye İşçi Partisi or briefly ''TİP''), the founder and President of the Socialist Revolution Party, and a member of the

Russell Tribunal The Russell Tribunal, also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal, Russell–Sartre Tribunal, or Stockholm Tribunal, was a private People's Tribunal organised in 1966 by Bertrand Russell, British philosopher and Nobel Prize winner, and ...

against the war crimes of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in Vietnam.

Biography

Mehmet Ali Aybar was born in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

in 1908. He was a great-grandson of the Ottoman soldier Mehmed Ali Pasha, and thus a relative of Turkish poets

Nâzım Hikmet Mehmed Nâzım Ran (15 January 1902 – 3 June 1963), Note: 403 Forbidden error received 10 October 2022. commonly known as Nâzım Hikmet (), was a Turkish-Polish poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director, and memoirist. He was ...

and Oktay Rıfat Horozcu, as well as the statesman Ali Fuat Cebesoy. He studied at

Galatasaray High School Galatasaray High School ( tr, Galatasaray Lisesi, french: Lycée de Galatasaray), established in what was then Constantinople and is now Istanbul, in 1481, is the oldest high school in Turkey. It is also the second-oldest Turkish educational in ...

, and graduated from Istanbul University's School of Law.Landau (1974), p. 124 He then moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

to continue his legal studies. It was in Paris that he was exposed to Marxist literature. Upon returning to Istanbul he became assistant professor of international law at the same Law School he graduated from. His academic career was hampered by his communist leanings, and he was eventually expelled from the University in 1946. His writings for the Istanbul magazine ''Hür'' (Free) engendered anger on the part of the government and he was briefly imprisoned. In 1950, Aybar was pardoned and began practicing law in Istanbul. He continued his activist writings and began participating in protests against the government, leading to his second arrest. After his release from prison in 1962, he became the first leader of the

Workers' Party of Turkey Workers' Party of Turkey (''Türkiye İşçi Partisi'') was a Turkish political party, founded the 13 February 1961. It became the first socialist party in Turkey to win representation in the national parliament. It was banned twice (after the mi ...

.Landau (1974), p. 125 It was only after he ascended to party leadership that intellectuals began to take the party seriously. Aybar's credibility drew academics to the party As the leader of the party, he and his associates were responsible for the direction and success of the party. One of the primary tenets of the party was to resist Turkey's subservience to American influence. Aybar personally opposed the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia and this caused disputes in the party. In 1971 he resigned from TİP as a result of his ideological split with party leadership over the

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

issue. In 1975 he founded Socialist Party (later called Socialist Revolution Party). This party was closed by the military coup in 1980. Aybar was also a member of the

International War Crimes Tribunal The Russell Tribunal, also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal, Russell–Sartre Tribunal, or Stockholm Tribunal, was a private People's Tribunal organised in 1966 by Bertrand Russell, British philosopher and Nobel Prize winner, and ...

which was founded by

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

. Mehmet Ali Aybar was born in

and died on 10 July 1995 in İstanbul.

Olympics

He participated in the 1928 Summer Olympics as track and field athlete for Turkey. He was eliminated in the first round of the 100 metres event. He was also a member of the Turkish team which was eliminated in the first round of the 4×100 metre relay competition.

Notes

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aybar, Mehmet Ali 1908 births 1995 deaths Politicians from Istanbul People from Constantinople vilayet Workers' Party of Turkey politicians Deputies of Istanbul Leaders of political parties in Turkey Sportspeople from Istanbul Galatasaray athletes Olympic athletes of Turkey Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics Galatasaray High School alumni Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni Recipients of Turkish presidential pardons Turkish Marxists Turkish male sprinters Turkish sportsperson-politicians Burials at Aşiyan Asri Cemetery 20th-century Turkish people