- Kasım Gülek
Kasım Gülek (1905 – 1996) was a prominent Turkish
statesman credited with being instrumental in entrenching democracy inTurkey by taking politics to the masses.=Biography=
He was born and lived in
Adana , southern Turkey, until he went away to school inIstanbul , where he studied respectively atGalatasaray High School andRobert College . He then went on to study atEcole des Sciences Politiques inParis ,France followed byColumbia University inNew York City, New York ,USA , where he received his PhD in Economics. After undertaking post doctorate studies at Cambridge in theUnited Kingdom andBerlin University as a fellow of theRockefeller Foundation , he returned to his country.Political career
After receiving a letter praising Kasım Gülek from the Dean of
Columbia University ,Atatürk , founder of modern Turkey, called upon him and offered him to become a Member of Parliament. Throughout his career, he held various ministerial positions including Minister of Public Works, Minister of Communications, Transport Minister, and Deputy Prime Minister.He was a leading member of Atatürk's party, the Republican People's Party (CHP). Early in 1947 he was one of the leaders of group of thirty-five deputies who revolted in the party caucus urging reforms and liberalizations. The episode was called the "Rebellion of 35", but even though it was unsuccessful, Gülek and three other insurgents were still permitted to join the cabinet afterwards.
He is best remembered for his role as the Secretary General of the Republican People's Party from 1950 until 1959, a position to which he was elected seven consecutive times with an overwhelming majority of the vote. During his time as Secretary General, he resurrected the crushed CHP by travelling to the all corners of Turkey visiting almost every village in the country. He later served as a member of the Constituent Assembly and as a Senator from Adana.
He also held several international positions such as Chairman of the
UN Commission onKorea , President of the North Atlantic Assembly, Governor of theAtlantic Institute , Vice-President ofNATO Parliamentarians Conference and Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of theCouncil of Europe .References
* Afad.org.tr - [http://www.afad.org.tr/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=20 "Biography of Kasım Gülek"] tr icon
External links
* [http://www.kasimgulek.com Kasım Gülek official website]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
