İsmail Özdağlar (born September 17, 1950) is a Turkish politician and former government minister. He was convicted of misuse of ministerial powers.
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Early life

İsmail Özdağlar was born to Ali Özdağlar and his wife Akile in

Demirci Demirci is a municipality and district of Manisa Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,321 km2, and its population is 36,620 (2022). The town lies at an elevation of . History From 1867 until 1922, Demirci was part of the Aidin Vilayet of the Ott ...

town of

Manisa Province Manisa Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in western Turkey. Its area is 13,339 km2, and its population is 1,468,279 (2022). Its neighboring provinces are İzmi ...

on September 17, 1950. He was educated in mechanical engineering at

Middle East Technical University Middle East Technical University (commonly referred to as METU; in Turkish language, Turkish, ''Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi'', ODTÜ) is a prestigious public university, public Institute of technology, technical university located in Ankara, ...

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

. He completed his postgraduate studies at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

and

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, USA. He served as the executive at Taksan Co. before he entered politics.

Politics career

Ismail Özdağlar joined the newly established Motherland Party (ANAP), which came out as the majority party from the 1983 general election held on November 6. He was elected into the parliament representing his hometown Manisa. Prime minister

Turgut Özal Halil Turgut Özal (13 October 192717 April 1993) was a Turkish politician, bureaucrat, engineer and statesman who served as the eighth president of Turkey from 1989 to 1993. He previously served as the 26th prime minister of Turkey from 1983 ...

took İsmail Özdağlar into his cabinet formed on December 13, 1983 appointing him as State minister responsible for petroleum supply. In 1985, rumors circulated about Özdağlar's involvement in corruption. He was accused of allowing shipping of petroleum to a higher cost than usual, and sharing the difference with the shipowner. It was claimed that Özdağlar received 25 million Turkish lira as part of the bribe. As it came to Prime minister Özal's notice, he immediately started a covered investigation by tasking his advisor

Adnan Kahveci Adnan Kahveci (20 February 1949 – 5 February 1993) was a noted Turkish politician who served as a key advisor to Prime Minister Turgut Özal throughout the 1980s. He was one of the founders in 1983 of the Motherland Party (ANAP) led by Turgut ...

to bring evidence to him. Kahveci, a technology freak, secretly recorded the conversation on the bribery between Özdağlar and shipowner Uğur Mengenecioğlu using a cassette recorder, and submitted the voice tape to Özal. After listening to the recording tape several times, Özal ordered Özdağlar to his residence, and asked him to resign from the minister post when he managed Özdağlar to confess the crime. 39 ANAP deputies in the parliament submitted a motion to investigate the corruption case. On May 15, 1985, 311 of the total 400 deputies of the

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

voted in favor of a proposal to send Özdağlar before the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

() for trial. The trial began on May 21, 1985. İsmail Özdağlar stood trial along with his father Ali Özdağlar and his brother-in-law Mehmet Kaymak, who were actively involved in the corruption. Even Özal testified in the court against Özdağlar. The supreme court concluded on February 14, 1986 that İsmail Özdağlar is guilty of

malpractice In the law of torts, malpractice, also known as professional negligence, is an "instance of negligence or incompetence on the part of a professional".Malpractice definition, Professionals who may become the subject of malpractice actions inc ...

, and sentenced him to two years in prison, a fine of 30,000 Turkish lira, a two-year ban from employment in state service and in addition the payment of trial expenses amounting to 281,410 Turkish lira. He was exempted from charges for bribery. On February 24, 1986, Özdağlar announced his resignation. On March 5, 1986, he was stripped of his parliamentary immunity. He was acquitted of bribe charges, but convicted on misuse of ministerial powers. After serving nine months and eighteen days in prison, he was released on December 30, 1986.

Family life

Özdağlar is married to Zahide. They have a son, Mehmet, and a daughter, Asuman Özdağlar (b. 1974), who is a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

and is married to economist

Daron Acemoglu Kamer Daron Acemoğlu (;, ; born September 3, 1967) is a Turkish Americans, Turkish-American economist of Armenians in Turkey, Armenian descent who has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1993, where he is currently the Ja ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozdaglar, Ismail 1950 births Living people People from Demirci Middle East Technical University alumni Ankara Science High School alumni Indiana University alumni University of Michigan alumni Turkish mechanical engineers Deputies of Manisa Motherland Party (Turkey) politicians Government ministers of Turkey Turkish politicians convicted of corruption Members of the 45th government of Turkey Ministers of state of Turkey