Bülent Arınç

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bülent Arınç (born 1948) is a Turkish politician of oratorical renown. He served as the 22nd house speaker of the Parliament of Turkey from 2002 to 2007.

[edit] Life and education

He was born in 1948 in Bursa, Turkey. It has been claimed that Derviş Mehmet, the leader of the revolting party in Menemen Incident that beheaded Kubilay, was Mr. Arınç's grandfather [1]. The parliament presidency refuted these claims by explaining that Mr. Arınç's grandfather's name was not Derviş Mehmet, but Ahmet Efendi [2].

After finishing the high school in Manisa, Bülent Arınç attended University of Ankara, earning a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1970. Following his education, he worked as a freelance lawyer in Manisa.

Bülent Arınç is married with two children, one of whom died in a traffic accident.

[edit] Entry into politics

Already interested in politics during his university years, Bülent Arınç ran for the deputy of Manisa in the 1995 general elections, and entered the Turkish Grand National Assembly from Refah Partisi (Welfare Party). He became also a member of the board of his party, and served in the parliament’s justice commission.

Following the closing of the Welfare Party by the Constitutional Court of Turkey on February 15, 1998, he transferred to the Fazilet Partisi (Virtue Party). Arınç was elected in the 1999 general elections as deputy of Manisa, this time from he Virtue Party. He became a member of the foreign affairs commission of the parliament.

The constitutional court closed the Virtue Party on June 22, 2001. Bülent Arınç, along with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, co-founded the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party) the same year on August 14. He was appointed speaker of his party’s group in the parliament.

Bülent Arınç was elected the third time deputy of Manisa in the general elections held on November 3, 2002. On November 19, 2002, he was elected Speaker of the Parliament.

[edit] Quotes

During an official visit to Lenin's Mausoleum, he remarked "It's so good to see Lenin dead." (Turkish: "Lenin'i ölü olarak görmek çok güzel."). He asked the attendant press not to publish it, saying "I hope you're not like journalists in Turkey. You wouldn't make a big deal out of it?" (Turkish: "Umuyorum siz Türkiye'deki gazeteciler gibi değilsinizdir, bir şeyi alıp büyütmezsiniz.") [3].

[edit] References

• Biography (Turkish)