Namık Kemal Zeybek (born 1944) is a Turkish politician and was leader of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

(2011 - 2012). A former civil servant and district governor, he was government minister in different cabinets. He was born 1944 in the village of Kitre in

Bayburt Province Bayburt Province ( tr, ) is a province of Turkey. Located in the Northeast Anatolia region of the country, the capital city is Bayburt, and with a population of 74,412 is the least-populous province in Turkey. Geography Bayburt is traversed by ...

, northeastern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. He graduated in 1966 from the Law School of Ankara University. After serving ten years as a district governor in several places, he was promoted to the undersecretary post at the Ministry of Customs and Monopoly. Zeybek worked then four years long as a coordinator in the private sector. In 1987, he entered politics and was elected Deputy of Istanbul into the parliament from the Motherland Party. Between 1989 and 1991, he served as the Minister of Culture in the cabinets of

Turgut Özal Halil Turgut Özal (; 13 October 192717 April 1993) was a Turkish politician, who served as the 8th President of Turkey from 1989 to 1993. He previously served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey from 1983 to 1989 as the leader of the Mothe ...

and

Yıldırım Akbulut Yıldırım Akbulut (; 2 September 1935 – 14 April 2021) was a Turkish politician, who was a leader of the Motherland Party (ANAP), the Prime Minister of Turkey, and twice the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. A lawyer by pro ...

. During his tenure, the festivities of

Newroz Newroz or Nawroz ( ku, نەورۆز, Newroz) is the Kurdish celebration of Nowruz; the arrival of spring and new year in Kurdish culture. The lighting of the fires at the beginning of the evening of March 21 is the main symbol of Newroz among t ...

were allowed in 1991. Later in 1996, Zeybek was appointed again minister in the coalition cabinet of

Necmettin Erbakan Necmettin Erbakan (29 October 1926 – 27 February 2011) was a Turkish politician, engineer, and academic who was the Prime Minister of Turkey from 1996 to 1997. He was pressured by the military to step down as prime minister and was later ban ...

. In 2007, Namık Kemal Zeybek joined the

Great Union Party The Great Unity Party ( tr, Büyük Birlik Partisi, BBP) or Great Union Party is a far-right Sunni Islamist and ultranationalist political party in Turkey, created on 29 January 1993.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 ...

, he was elected leader of its party.

References

1944 births Living people People from Bayburt Ankara University Faculty of Law alumni Turkish jurists Turkish civil servants Democrat Party (Turkey, current) politicians Government ministers of Turkey Leaders of political parties in Turkey Ministers of Culture of Turkey Deputies of Istanbul Members of the 20th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 54th government of Turkey Ministers of State of Turkey {{Turkey-politician-stub