İsmail Nihat Erim (30 November 1912 – 19 July 1980) was a Turkish

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

and

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the U ...

. He served as the 13th

Prime Minister of Turkey The prime minister of the Republic of Turkey (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Başbakanı'') was the head of government of the Republic of Turkey from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the Grand National Assembly of ...

for almost 14 months after the 1971 Turkish military memorandum. He was

assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

by the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front 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 1980.

Biography

Nihat Erim was born in Kandıra to Raif Erim and Macide Erim. After graduating 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 ...

Law School in 1936, he studied further to earn his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

degree in

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

Law School in 1939. He returned to

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 ...

to become an assistant professor in 1939 and professor in 1942 at the

Ankara University Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The university has 40 vocat ...

School of Law. He was appointed as legal advisor to the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The enti ...

in 1943 while he was still in the university. He also served as an advisor in the Turkish committee at the conference on the foundation of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

in 1945. That same year, he was elected and served as the Kocaeli Province representative at 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 ...

to join 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 i ...

( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP) group at the parliament. In 1949, he served as the minister of public works and later as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

. Erim was married to Kamile Erim née Okutman and has two children Işık Erim and Işıl Onalp née Erim. He has five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

Political career

In 1950, when CHP lost the majority in the parliament after the elections, he lost his seat and became the chief politics editor and leading writer of the newspaper "''

Ulus Ulus may refer to: Places * Ulus, Bartın, a district in Bartin Province, Turkey *Ulus, Ankara, an important quarter in central Ankara, Turkey ** Ulus (Ankara Metro), an underground station of the Ankara Metro Other uses * ''Ulus'' (newspaper), a ...

''" ("''Nation''"). When it was closed down by the government, he went on to publish his own newspaper, "''Yeni Ulus–Halkçı''" ("''New Nation–Populist''") in 1953. In 1956, he participated at the negotiations on

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

. The same year, he was selected as the Turkish member of the European Commission on Human Rights to serve in this position until 1962. He led the Turkish committee on the preparation of the Cyprus constitution in 1959, following Zurich and London Agreements. He continued legally advising the Turkish committees at further negotiations on Cyprus at the

. After the military coup of 1960, once again he was elected and served as Kocaeli representative in the parliament, and this time as head of the CHP group. He was one of the focal points of internal conflicts of CHP, opposing the leader

İsmet İnönü Mustafa İsmet İnönü (; 24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish army officer and statesman of Kurdish descent, who served as the second President of Turkey from 11 November 1938 to 22 May 1950, and its Prime Minister three time ...

. The conflict resulted in him being ousted from the party in 1962. He was re-elected to the party's ruling committee taking second highest votes, thus joining the party again. He served as the Turkish representative at the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a p ...

between 1961 and 1970, and was elected as deputy secretary general in 1961. In 1969, he was appointed as a member of the UN

International Law Commission The International Law Commission (ILC) is a body of experts responsible for helping develop and codify international law. It is composed of 34 individuals recognized for their expertise and qualifications in international law, who are elected by t ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In Turkey, after a spree of political violence, and the coup by memorandum, the army forced the resignation of prime minister

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

on 12 March 1971. Nihat Erim, while still at the university, was advised to withdraw from his post in the Republican People's Party (CHP) by the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

, which was then heavily influenced by the military.

Prime Minister

He was appointed a neutral and technocratic prime minister on 26 March 1971 to form a "national unity" coalition government (see 33rd government of Turkey), the first of a series of weak governments until the elections in 1973. During his tenure he ruled out the existence of another nationality living in Turkey and the Kurdish population in the country was oppressed. One of the actions in regards of the Kurdish question during Erim's prime ministry was the closing down of the Workers Party of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye İşçi Partisi, TİP) for its recognition of the Kurds as a distinct ethnicity. Erim was forced to resign when 11 technocratic ministers of his cabinet resigned as a body on 3 December 1971. However, he was appointed once more by the President Cevdet Sunay, and he formed his second cabinet on 11 December 1971. He resigned on 17 April 1972 on health grounds, when his decision to promulgate decree laws was not backed by the parliament. His resignation was approved on 22 May 1972, and Ferit Melen, representative of the

Van Province Van Province ( tr, Van ili, ku, Parezgêha Wanê, Armenian: Վանի մարզ) is a province in the Eastern Anatolian region of Turkey, between Lake Van and the Iranian border. It is 19,069 km2 in area and had a population of 1,035,418 a ...

and minister of national defense in his cabinet, was appointed as the new prime minister and formed his own cabinet. During his premiership, a significant contribution he made to Turkish politics was to form a ministry of culture (today in the form of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism), which was until then a mere department within the ministry of education. He appointed

Talat Halman Talat or Talaat may refer to: People *Talat (given name), includes Tallat *Mehmet Ali Talat (born 1952), President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus *Talat Yaqoob Geographic designations *Talat Sao, a morning market in Vientiane, Laos ...

, journalist-writer, as the minister to this newly formed post. His government's prohibition of

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy '' Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which ...

poppy harvesting in June 1971 under US pressure fired controversy. A change in the constitution brought together a witch hunt for leftists, reaching its peak after the abduction and killing of the Israeli ambassador

Efraim Elrom Ephraim (; he, ''ʾEp̄rayīm'', in pausa: ''ʾEp̄rāyīm'') was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph ben Jacob and Asenath. Asenath was an Ancient Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph as wife, and the daught ...

in May 1971.

Assassination

Erim was shot to death by two gunmen near his home in Kartal,

on 19 July 1980. Radical leftist Turkish militant group

Dev Sol The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front ( tr, Devrimci Halk Kurtuluş Partisi-Cephesi or DHKP-C) is a far-left Marxist–Leninist Communist party in Turkey. It was founded in 1978 as Revolutionary Left (Turkish: or ), and has been inv ...

(Revolutionary Left) claimed responsibility for the attack. The assassination might have accelerated the

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

on September 12 of that year led by

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

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 Turkis ...

. The motive behind the assassination is thought to be related to the approval by the parliament of the execution of three leftist militants, one being Deniz Gezmiş, during his service as prime minister. Erim's assassination was part of the wave of political violence in Turkey in the late 1970s between left-wing Marxist and right-wing ultranationalist groups.

Books

*''Le Positivisme Juridique et le Droit International'' (Judicial Positivism and International Law), 1939. *''XVII. Yüzyıldan Zamanımııza Kadar Tabii Hukuk Nazariyeleri'' (Natural Theories of Law from 17th Century Until Today), translation from Le Fur, 1940. *''Amme Hukuku Dersleri'' (Public Law Lessons), 1941. *''Devletlerarası Amme Hukuku'' (International Public Law), translation from Le Fur, 1944. *''Siyasi Tarih ve Devletlerararası Hukuk Metinleri'' (Political History and International Law Texts), 1953.

References