Fikri Sağlar (born 1953) is a Turkish

social democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

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, a ...

. 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 organizati ...

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

Susurluk scandal The Susurluk scandal () was a scandal involving the close relationship among the deep state in Turkey, the Grey Wolves and the Turkish mafia. It took place during the peak of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, in the mid-1990s. The relationship ...

. 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 (CHP) in the 1990s. Sağlar was a minister both in the 50th and in the

52nd government of Turkey The 52nd government of Turkey (30 October 1995 – 6 March 1996) was a caretaker coalition government formed by True Path Party (DYP) and Republican People's Party (CHP). Background The 50th government of Turkey came to an end because Deniz Ba ...

. 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