Erdal İnönü (6 June 1926 – 31 October 2007) was a Turkish

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who served as the interim

prime minister of Turkey The prime minister of Turkey, officially the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey (), was the head of government of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Tu ...

between 16 May and 25 June 1993. He also served as the

deputy prime minister of Turkey The deputy prime minister of Turkey was official deputy of the prime minister of Turkey. Conventionally all of the junior partners in a coalition got one deputy, and they were ranked according to the size of their respective parties. See also ...

from 1991 to 1993 and as the

minister of foreign affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

from March to October 1995. He served as the leader of the Social Democracy Party (SODEP) from 1983 to 1985 and later the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) from 1986 to 1993. He was the son of the

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

president of Turkey The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye (), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the national government and is the commander-in-chief of the ...

İsmet İnönü Mustafa İsmet İnönü (24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish politician and military officer who served as the second List of Presidents of Turkey, president of Turkey from 1938 to 1950, and as its Prime Minister of Turkey, pr ...

. İnönü initially founded SODEP in 1983 with the intention of contesting the 1983 general election. However, 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 had been established following the 1980 military coup, banned İnönü from standing for office. Standing down as chairman in order to be replaced by a politician that could seek office, İnönü was succeeded by Cezmi Kartay. However, SODEP was banned completely from contesting the election, resulting in İnönü taking over as leader for a second time shortly afterwards. His party contested the 1984 local elections and came second with 23.4% of the vote. SODEP merged with the People's Party in 1985 and İnönü became the leader of the new Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) in 1986. In the 1986 parliamentary by-elections, the SHP came third with 22.7% of the vote and İnönü was elected as a member of Parliament for

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

. He was the only successful SHP candidate. Following the 1991 general election, the SHP formed a coalition with Süleyman Demirel's True Path Party (DYP) and İnönü became Deputy Prime Minister. He briefly served as the acting prime minister in 1993 after Demirel was elected president. After the DYP elected Tansu Çiller as their leader and she formed a government, İnönü continued as deputy prime minister until he resigned as party leader in 1993. He later served as foreign minister in 1995 until he stepped down as an MP in the 1995 general election.

Early life

Erdal İnönü was born in Ankara on June 6, 1926, as the third of four children of

, the first

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and second

President of Turkey The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye (), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the national government and is the commander-in-chief of the ...

, and Mevhibe İnönü. He graduated from the Physics Department of the Faculty of Sciences of

Ankara University Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...

in 1947 and received his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

in 1951; with

Eugene Wigner Eugene Paul Wigner (, ; November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who also contributed to mathematical physics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his contributions to the theory of th ...

, he pioneered the study of group contractions. Upon his return to Turkey, İnönü worked at first as an assistant professor in Ankara University. Between 1964 and 1974, he was professor of physics and the first chairman of the Department of Theoretical Physics at the

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, ...

(1960–1966). He initiated research on neutron transport during that period. Between 1969 and 1971, he was the dean of the university's Faculty of Art and Sciences. He served as president of METU between 1970 and 1971. In 1974, İnönü moved to

Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Boğaziçi Üniversitesi''), also known as Bosphorus University, is a Public university, public research university in Istanbul, Turkey, historically tied to a former American educational insti ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

and lectured there until his venture into politics when he founded the Social Democracy Party (SODEP) in 1983. While at Boğaziçi, he served as the dean of the Faculty of Art and Sciences between 1976 and 1982.

Political career

Although the military government banned İnönü's party in 1983 elections, SODEP managed to survive and became the second party in 1984 local elections. In November 1985 SODEP and another party named People's Party (Halkçı Parti) formed a union, the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP). According to consolidation agreement İnönü briefly lost his post. But he became the leader of SHP in May 1986. SHP was one of the parties which weighed the heaviest in Turkey's political scene during the late 1980s and early 1990s. İnönü challenged the

liberal conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...

party of Turgut Özal, ANAP, both in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

and

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

elections. One of the main reasons why SHP could not win an election was the division of the moderate

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...

votes between SHP and DSP, the party of the former CHP leader

Bülent Ecevit Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in 197 ...

. Erdal İnönü was also a member of the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

. He joined discussions as the deputy chairman of the organization. Erdal İnönü was deputy prime minister in the two coalition governments formed between center-right DYP and SHP, which were led by

Süleyman Demirel Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously serv ...

at first (from 1991 to 1993) and when Demirel became the president, by Tansu Çiller, in a unity largely caused by their resentment at the time against the outgoing Motherland Party. (See 49th government of Turkey and 50th government of Turkey)

After resignation

In the summer of 1993 he announced that he would not run for the leadership of the party in the coming congress. During the 4th general congress of the party on 11–12 September 1993, he resigned from the leadership of the party and consequently he also resigned from his post in the government.

Murat Karayalçın Murat Karayalçın (born 26 October 1943) is a prominent Turkish politician. He is a former foreign minister (1994–1995), deputy prime minister, and a former mayor of Ankara (1989–1993). He is the founder (in 2002) of the new SHP. Of Hamshe ...

replaced him in both posts. In February 1995, SHP and recently refounded

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) merged. Upon Erdal İnönü's suggestion the new party was named CHP. In CHP Erdal İnönü was given the title of ''honorary chairman''. In 1995 he served as the

for about six months.

Later life

İnönü was the 2004 recipient of the

Wigner medal The International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics (ICGTMP) is an academic conference devoted to applications of group theory to physics. It was founded in 1972 by Henri Bacry and Aloysio Janner. It hosts a colloquium every tw ...

, given by the Group Theory and Fundamental Physics Foundation, for his contributions to group contractions. He also contributed to the study of the history of science in the

Republic of 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 ...

and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, coauthoring a book on the subject. He lectured at

Sabancı University Sabancı University () is a private research university that adopts a liberal arts education approach, established in 1994 and located on a 1.26 million squaremeter campus which is about 40 km from Istanbul's city center. Its first students ...

and the Feza Gürsey Institute from 2004 to 2007.

Death

Erdal İnönü died in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, United States, on 31 October 2007, where he was being treated for

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

. His body was flown to Turkey and was buried at the

Zincirlikuyu Cemetery The Zincirlikuyu Cemetery () is a modern burial ground in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. It is administered by the Metropolitan Municipality. Many prominent figures from the world of politics, business, sports and arts rest here. The ce ...

in Istanbul on 4 November 2007 following a

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...

held before the building of

Turkish Grand National Assembly The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

in Ankara the previous day and then an

Islamic funeral Islamic funerals () follow fairly specific rites, though they are subject to regional interpretation and variation in custom. In all cases, however, sharia (Islamic religious law) calls for burial of the body as soon as possible. The deceased is ...

in the

Teşvikiye Mosque The Teşvikiye Mosque () is a neo-baroque structure located in the Teşvikiye neighbourhood of Şişli district in Istanbul, Turkey. History The mosque was originally commissioned in 1794 by Sultan Selim III, but most of the current mosque t ...

References

External links

*
Biography
from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs *
Interview with Erdal Inonu about Physics
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inonu, Erdal 1926 births 2007 deaths 20th-century prime ministers of Turkey People from Ankara Social Democracy Party (Turkey) politicians Social Democratic Populist Party (Turkey) politicians Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians 20th-century Turkish scientists Turkish physicists Leaders of political parties in Turkey Deputy prime ministers of Turkey Ministers of foreign affairs of Turkey Academic staff of Boğaziçi University Academic staff of Middle East Technical University Academic staff of Sabancı University Ankara University alumni Burials at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery Deaths from leukemia in Texas İsmet İnönü California Institute of Technology alumni Rectors of Middle East Technical University Leaders of the opposition (Turkey) Deputies of İzmir Recipients of TÜBİTAK Science Award Mathematical physicists Members of the 49th government of Turkey Members of the 50th government of Turkey Children of presidents of Turkey Children of prime ministers of Turkey Turkish Kurdish politicians