Fikri Sağlar (born 1953) is a Turkish

social democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

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 ...

. He was

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organiza ...

in the early 1990s, and a member of the parliamentary commission which investigated the

Susurluk scandal The Susurluk scandal () or Susurluk accident (), was a 1996 political scandal in Turkey that exposed a close relationship between the Turkish government, the ultra-nationalistic paramilitary Grey Wolves (organization), Grey Wolves organization an ...

. He has been a columnist for ''

Birgün ''BirGün'' (''One Day'') is an Istanbul-based Turkish left-wing daily. The paper was founded in 2004 by a group of Turkish intellectuals. The most important point of the newspaper is that it is not owned by any parent company or conglomerate. ...

''. In 1983, he was elected deputy chairman of the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP). The SHP merged with 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) in the 1990s. Sağlar was a minister both in the 50th and in the 52nd government of Turkey. In 2001 Sağlar resigned from the CHP along with several others, having been referred to a disciplinary board (which cleared him) for allegedly working against the CHP's interests. He co-founded the new Social Democratic People's Party in 2002, becoming its Secretary-General. In 2002, he was charged, along with some others, with insulting the government, due to some comments in a television discussion programme. Hurriyet Daily News, 19 April 2002
Bursa Court opens trial against Fikri Saglar
/ref> He is the author of two books, ''Code Name Susurluk'' and ''Contemporary Culture from National to the Global''.

References

1953 births Living people People from Mut, Mersin Social Democratic Populist Party (Turkey) politicians Contemporary Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Social Democratic People's Party (Turkey) politicians Members of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Members of the 49th government of Turkey Members of the 50th government of Turkey Members of the 52nd government of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Ministers of state of Turkey {{Turkey-politician-stub