Temel Karamollaoğlu (born 20 September 1941) is a
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
* Something related to Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire
* The w ...
textile engineer
Textile manufacturing or textile engineering is a major Textile industry, industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then Dyeing, dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then con ...
and politician. A prominent
Islamist, Karamollaoğlu was the Mayor of
Sivas
Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.[İl Beledi ...]
from 1989 to 1995 and served twice as a
Member of Parliament for
Sivas
Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.[İl Beledi ...]
from 1977 to 1980 and from 1996 to 2002.
Early life and career
Temel Karamollaoğlu, originally from
Gürün
Gürün is a town in Sivas Province of Turkey. It is the seat of Gürün District.[İlçe Beled ...]
, a district of
Sivas
Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.[İl Beledi ...]
, was born on 7 June 1941 in
Kahramanmaraş
Kahramanmaraş (), historically Marash (; ) and Germanicea (), is a city in the Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean region of Turkey and the administrative centre of Kahramanmaraş Province, Kahramanmaraş province. After 1973, Maraş was ...
as one of the seven children of Üzeyir and Münire Karamollaoğlu. After completing his primary and secondary education in various provinces due to his father's duty as a teacher, he graduated from
University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for Research univer ...
textile technology department in 1964, where he went on a scholarship in the 1960s. He completed his master's degree at the same university in 1967. In the same year he returned to Turkey and began working for
Sümerbank
Sümerbank was a Turkish bank and Industrial sector, industrial holding company established in 1933 and originally owned by the Turkish state, now part of Oyak Bank. On 11 January 2002, Oyak Bank acquired Sümerbank and the combined bank is now kn ...
, and then as a textile specialist in the
State Planning Organization. Karamollaoğlu, who worked in the private sector for two years after his
military service
Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription).
Few nations, such ...
, served as the Incentive and Implementation General Manager of the
Ministry of Industry and Technology
The Ministry of Industry and Technology () is a government ministry office of the Republic of Turkey, responsible for industrial and commercial affairs in Turkey. The ministry is headed by Mehmet Fatih Kacır.
Ministers
* Mustafa Varank (10 J ...
in 1975.
Political life
Karamollaoğlu met
Necmettin Erbakan
Necmettin Erbakan (29 October 1926 – 27 February 2011) was a Turkish politician and political theorist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Turkey from 1996 to 1997. He was pressured by the military to step down as prime minister and was la ...
in 1967. They met in a talk held by
Mehmed Zahid Kotku in a
İskenderpaşa Sufi Order meeting.
In
1977
Events January
* January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...
, he was elected as a deputy of
Sivas
Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.[İl Beledi ...]
from Erbakan's
National Salvation Party
The National Salvation Party (, MSP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey, founded on 11 October 1972 as the successor of the banned National Order Party (''Millî Nizam Partisi'', MNP). The party was formed by a core group of working cadres ...
and he was, one year later, elected as a member of the party general assembly in 1978. He served European Council Assembly.
After the
1980 Turkish coup d'état
The 1980 Turkish coup d'état (), headed by Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren, was the third coup d'état in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the previous having been the 1960 coup and the 1971 coup by memorandum.
During ...
, he was prosecuted by the military government, but eventually acquitted.
He remained out of active politics, where he worked as a private consultant for a while and then held administrative positions in a textile company. He was allowed to return after the passage of the
1987 Turkish constitutional referendum
A constitutional referendum was held in Turkey on 6 September 1987 to amend temporary article 4 of the constitution, which had forbidden the leaders of banned parties (a total of 242 people) from taking part in politics for ten years. The govern ...
. He ran as a member of parliament under the
Welfare Party
The Welfare Party (, RP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey. It was founded by Ali Türkmen, Ahmet Tekdal, and Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, National Order Party (MNP) and National Salvation Party ...
in the
1987 general election, but the party did not win representation for polling below the 10% threshold.
He was elected mayor of
Sivas
Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.[İl Beledi ...]
in
1989
1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
.
Aziz Nesin
Aziz Nesin (; born Mehmet Nusret, 20 December 1915, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire – 6 July 1995, Izmir , Turkey) was a Turkish writer, humorist and the author of more than 100 books. Born in a time when Turks did not have official surnames, ...
's presentation of his Turkish translation of
The Satanic Verses
''The Satanic Verses'' is the fourth novel from the Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie. First published in September 1988, the book was inspired by the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical re ...
in
Madımak Hotel in Sivas was controversial, and a mob of
MHP supporters started a fire which killed many of the guests in attendance, most of whom were
Alevi
Alevism (; ; ) is a syncretic heterodox Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Islamic teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, who taught the teachings of the Twelve Imams, whilst incorporating some traditions from shamanism. Differing ...
. Karamollaoğlu's role in the Madımak Massacre is controversial, some claimed he urged the mob to disperse, other accounts allege that he endorsed their cause. The government removed him from his post, but he was reelected mayor in
1994
The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations.
In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
.
He entered the parliament after the
1995 Turkish general election
General elections were held in Turkey on Sunday 24 December 1995, triggered by the newly re-established Republican People's Party's (CHP) withdrawal from a coalition government with the True Path Party (DYP). The coalition had been in government ...
as a deputy of Sivas of the
Welfare Party
The Welfare Party (, RP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey. It was founded by Ali Türkmen, Ahmet Tekdal, and Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, National Order Party (MNP) and National Salvation Party ...
. During this period, he served as a member of the
NATO Parliamentary Assembly
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It consists of delegates from the parliaments of the 32 NATO member countries as well as from associate ...
. At the same time, he was elected as the
Welfare Party
The Welfare Party (, RP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey. It was founded by Ali Türkmen, Ahmet Tekdal, and Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, National Order Party (MNP) and National Salvation Party ...
group vice president. He continued this duty until the
Welfare Party
The Welfare Party (, RP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey. It was founded by Ali Türkmen, Ahmet Tekdal, and Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, National Order Party (MNP) and National Salvation Party ...
was shut down. Following investigations of the
Refah-Yol government, Karamollaoğlu’s brother and other officials at the state-run fertilizer firm TÜGSAŞ were prosecuted for siphoning off $20 million in gas. It was also discovered that he is affiliated with the controversial
Aczmendi Sufi Order.
Later, he joined the
Virtue Party
Virtue Party (, FP) was an Islamist political party established on 17 December 1997 in Turkey. It was found unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court and then banned on 22 June 2001 for violating the secularist articles of the Constitution. A ...
after the Welfare Party was dissolved by the
Constitutional Court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...
. He was re-elected as a deputy of Sivas in the
1999 Turkish general election
General elections were held in Turkey on Sunday, 18 April 1999. For the first time, local, council and parliamentary elections were held on the same day. Bülent Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP) had been soaring in popularity after the captu ...
, during which the Virtue Party was also banned. He was a member of the "White Beard" faction, the orthodox
Milli Görüş
''Milli'' (symbol m) is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of one thousandth (10−3). Proposed in 1793, and adopted in 1795, the prefix comes from the Latin , meaning ''one thousand'' (the Latin plural is ). Since 1960, the pre ...
politicians that opposed the reformist "Innovators", led by
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...
. The White Beards formed the
Felicity Party
The Felicity Party (, SAADET) is an Islamism, Islamist Turkey, Turkish political party. It was founded in 2001, and mainly supported by conservative Muslims in Turkey.
It was founded on 20 July 2001 after the Virtue Party (Turkey), Virtue Party ...
(SP), while the Innovators formed the
Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being:
* Justice and Development Party (Morocco)
* Justice and Development Party (Turkey)
Justice and Development Party may also refer to:
* Justice and Dev ...
(AKP). At the Felicity Party congress held in May 2000, Karamollaoğlu was elected as a member of the general administrative board and was appointed as the vice president responsible for foreign affairs.
Karamollaoğlu was elected as leader of the
Felicity Party
The Felicity Party (, SAADET) is an Islamism, Islamist Turkey, Turkish political party. It was founded in 2001, and mainly supported by conservative Muslims in Turkey.
It was founded on 20 July 2001 after the Virtue Party (Turkey), Virtue Party ...
in 2016 and handed over the position of leader of the Felicity Party to
Mahmut Arıkan, who was elected as leader of the Felicity Party in 2024.
Personal life
Karamollaoğlu speaks fluent English. He has been married since 1965 and has 5 children.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karamollaoğlu, Temel
Felicity Party politicians
Living people
People from Sivas
People from Kahramanmaraş
Turkish Islamists
Deputies of Sivas
Mayors of places in Turkey
Members of the 20th Parliament of Turkey
1941 births
Alumni of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
Virtue Party politicians
Welfare Party politicians
National Salvation Party politicians
Turkish materials scientists