Cahit Karakaş (born 1928) is a Turkish engineer and a former politician. He served as government minister and Speaker of the Parliament.

Early life

He was born in Bartın in 1928. In 1952, he graduated from

Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University, also known as Technical University of Istanbul (, commonly referred to as İTÜ), is an public university, public technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third-oldest technical university ...

. After his doctorate at

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

, he returned to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

to serve as a civil engineer.

Politician career

He joined the Justice Party and in 1965 he was elected MP from Zonguldak Province. In 1973, he supported the technocratic government of Nihat Erim and he became the Minister of Public Works in the 33rd government of Turkey serving between 26 March 1971 and 10 November 1971, and then the Minister of Transportation from 10 November to 11 December 1971. He later joined the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

(CHP). After the 1977 general elections, in which CHP won the plurality, the parliament failed to elect its speaker for about six months. Finally on 17 November that year, Cahit Karakaş was elected the Speaker of the Turkish parliament. He kept this post until the 1980 Turkish coup d'etat staged on 12 September. During the civilian regime following 1983, he joined the Populist Party (HP). After the foundation of the Democratic Left Party (DSP), he joined DSP. His membership in the parliament ended by the 1987 general elections.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karakas, Cahit 1928 births People from Bartın Istanbul Technical University alumni Technische Universität Berlin alumni Turkish civil engineers Turkish expatriates in Germany Deputies of Zonguldak Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Justice Party (Turkey) politicians 20th-century Turkish engineers Democratic Left Party (Turkey) politicians Speakers of the Parliament of Turkey Ministers of public works of Turkey Ministers of transport and communications of Turkey Living people