Mesut Yılmaz

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Ahmet Mesut Yılmaz (born 6 November 1947 in Istanbul) (graduated from İstanbul Lisesi in 1966) is the former leader of "Anavatan Partisi" (ANAP, the Motherland Party) and was the Turkish prime minister in the 1990s.

Mesut Yılmaz was a rising star in the Motherland Party of Turgut Özal, representing the Black Sea province of Rize in the parliament and serving as tourism minister in Ozal's cabinet. Upon Özal's election to the presidency in 1989, Yılmaz became the leader of an intraparty opposition to the new Prime Minister, Yıldırım Akbulut.

Yılmaz managed to discharge Akbulut from party leadership and from all executive functions during the biennial party congress in June 1991. Because ANAP had the majority in the parliament he subsequently became Prime Minister of Turkey.

The following years saw a decline in the popularity of the Motherland Party and an acrimonious relationship with Tansu Çiller, leader of the center-right Dogru Yol Partisi, or True Path Party. Yılmaz also made the Motherland Party more business-friendly and Europe-oriented, causing the more conservative, religious wing to switch to the Refah Partisi, or Welfare Party, of Necmettin Erbakan. In October 1998 over tension about alleged Hafez al-Assad's support to separatist Kurd party PKK, he set off a furor in the Arab world by threatening to "poke out the eyes" of Syria [1]. Yılmaz's last stint as Prime Minister ended in 1999. He continued as a politician, however, serving as a deputy prime minister in a coalition led by Bülent Ecevit from 1999 to 2002. After his failure to win entry into the Grand National Assembly in 2002 elections, Yılmaz retired from politics to pursue a teaching career. After almost 4 years, Yılmaz announced his return to politics in August 2006.

He was charged by the state public prosecutor with corruption during his tenure as prime minister and his trial started at the Supreme Court in 2005 but found innocent the following year.

In 2007 general election he is elected as independent member of parliament from Rize.

[edit] Career Path

• Forms Motherland Party in 1983 with former president Turgut Özal
• Elected Deputy of Turkish Grand National Assembly (November 1983)
• Appointed State Minister for Information (December 1983)
• Minister of Culture and Tourism (1986)
• Minister of Foreign Affairs (December 1987)
• Prime Minister (Governments of June - October 1991, March - June 1996, June 1997- January 1999)

[edit] External links

• Biography at Motherland Party's website
• Personal Website

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