Hikmet Çetin (born 10 August 1937) is a Turkish retired politician of Kurdish origin. He held various national posts during his career, including Foreign Affairs Minister (1991–1994) and

Speaker of the Grand National Assembly This article lists the speakers of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The name of the parliament of Turkey, originally and currently the Grand National Assembly of Turkey () since its establishment on 23 April 1920, has for short periods be ...

(1997–1999). In November 2003, he was appointed

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

's inaugural Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan.

Early life

He was born in

Lice Louse (: lice) is the common name for any member of the infraorder Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera was previously recognized as an order, until a 2021 genetic study determined th ...

, a town in the southeastern

Diyarbakır Province Diyarbakır Province (; ; ) is a province and metropolitan municipality in southeastern Turkey. Its area is 15,101 km2, and its population is 1,804,880 (2022). The provincial capital is the city of Diyarbakır. The Kurdish majority province ...

. After completing primary school in his hometown and high school in

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 graduated in 1960 with a B.A. degree in Economics and Finance from

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 ...

's School of Political Sciences. After completing his education, Hikmet Çetin joined the State Planning Organization ( Turkish: ''Devlet Planlama Teşkilatı'', ''DPT''). Shortly after, he was sent abroad and also to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, where he received his M.A. in "''Economics of development''" from

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

in Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA. In 1968, he did research work on "''Planning models''" at the

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, USA. After returning home, he completed his military service in 1970 and worked as the head of Economics Planning Department at the DPT until 1977. During this time, he was a part-time lecturer 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, ...

in Ankara.

Political career

Hikmet Çetin stepped into politics in the 1977 general elections as deputy of

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 ...

from 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). Between 1978 and 1979, he served as Minister of State and later as Deputy Prime Minister in the cabinet of the Prime Minister

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 ...

. Following the 1980 military coup that banned the existing political parties, Hikmet Çetin became an advisor in planning to the Government of

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. He returned to politics following his election to 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 ...

in 1987 as deputy of Diyarbakır from the Social Democratic Populist Party (Turkish: Sosyal Demokrat Halkçı Parti, SHP), the successor of the banned Republican People's Party. He served in the board of SHP and became its Secretary General. Hikmet Çetin was elected in

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 ...

for the third time to Parliament as deputy of

Gaziantep Gaziantep, historically Aintab and still informally called Antep, is a major city in south-central Turkey. It is the capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Medi ...

from SHP. He was appointed in 1991 Minister of Foreign Affairs in the coalition cabinet of Prime Minister

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 ...

. He kept his seat in the coalition cabinet of Tansu Çiller, who took over the government leadership from Demirel after his rise to the Presidency. Hikmet Çetin resigned from his post on 27 July 1994. In 1995, the two left wing parties, SHP and CHP decided to merge, and their general assemblies agreed on the leadership of Hikmet Çetin. He was elected chairman on 18 February 1995. At the party convention held on 9 September 1995 he did not run for the chair of the Republican People's Party again, and resigned. Hikmet Çetin retook his seat in the Parliament in the 1995 general elections and was elected as the Speaker of the Parliament on 16 October 1997 and occupied this position until 18 April 1999.

Diplomatic duty

He was appointed on 19 November 2003 as

Secretary General's first Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, the highest-level political representative of NATO in this country, where it has held the command of the

International Security Assistance Force The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386, Resolution 1386 ac ...

(ISAF) since 11 August 2003. On 26 January 2004 he took office in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

, and served two consecutive terms until 24 August 2006.

After politics

Since 2013, Çetin has been a Member of the

Global Leadership Foundation The Global Leadership Foundation (GLF) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization consisting of a network of former heads of state/government and other distinguished leaders (GLF Members), who seek to assist developing countries in improving gov ...

, chaired by FW de Klerk, an organisation that works to support democratic leadership, prevent and resolve conflict through mediation and promote good governance in the form of democratic institutions, open markets, human rights and the rule of law. It does so by making available, discreetly and in confidence, the experience of former leaders to today’s national leaders. It is a not-for-profit organisation composed of former heads of government, senior governmental and international organization officials who work closely with heads of government on governance-related issues of concern to them.

Personal life

Hikmet Çetin is of Kurdish descent, and is married to İnci Çetin, and they have two children.

References

Who is who

Prime Ministry of Turkey

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cetin, Hikmet 1937 births Living people People from Lice, Turkey Contemporary Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences alumni Williams College alumni Turkish civil servants Government ministers of Turkey Ministers of foreign affairs of Turkey Deputy prime ministers of Turkey Leaders of the Republican People's Party (Turkey) 21st-century Turkish diplomats Speakers of the Parliament of Turkey International Security Assistance Force Stanford University alumni 20th-century Turkish economists Deputies of Istanbul Deputies of Diyarbakır Members of the 20th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 42nd government of Turkey Members of the 49th government of Turkey Members of the 50th government of Turkey Turkish Kurdish politicians Ministers of state of Turkey Academic staff of Middle East Technical University