TURKEY - The Political Leadership - Bulent Ecevit.

The Prime Minister heading a three-party coalition since June 1999 and now aged 77, Ecevit is one of the best known figures in Turkey Feeling "fine and in charge", he was discharged from hospital on May 27, 2002, 10 days after having had a broken rib and a blood clot in his left leg. Speculation

Ecevit in May 2000 got Judge Ahmet Necdet Sezer, then a 58-year-old head of the Constitutional Court, to be approved as President of the Republic to succeed Suleyman Demirel, a bitter rival for years turned an ally, whose term ended on May 16. But since then Ecevit and independent-minded Sezer have often been at odds. An open clash between the two in Feb. 2001 triggered Turkey's worst crisis since 1945 (see DT). President Sezer, who has vetoed government reforms on democratic grounds, said on May 24 EU reforms were above politics and called a summit of the leader of Turkey's political parties to discuss the measures, which are opposed by the coalition's ultra-nationalist partner Nationalist Action Party (MHP). The other coalition partner, the Motherland Party (ANAP), backs the measures.

Ecevit is a journalist by profession and politician for four decades. He leads the Democratic Left Party (Demokratik Sol Parti, DSP), which was the main winner of the April 1999 parliamentary elections. A social democrat and secularist at heart, he is strongly opposed to Islamic militancy.

Born in May 1925 in Istanbul, Ecevit is the son of the late Prof. Fahri Ecevit, who taught forensic medicine at Ankara University and was later elected to parliament. Bulent's mother, Nazli, was a professional painter. Bulent studied at Robert College in Istanbul and pursued further education at the University of London and Harvard University.

Ecevit was a state employee between 1944-1950. He served at the Turkish press attache's office in London from 1946 to 1950. Between 1950-1961, he served as foreign news editor, managing editor, and political director of Ulus newspaper. In 1957, he entered politics as an MP for the Republican People's Party (CHP). He kept his seat until 1980, also serving as a member of the Constituent Assembly from 1961. He became prime minister in Jan. 1974 and ordered the invasion of Cyprus in July of that year. His government collapsed in Nov. 1974. He again served as prime minister in June-July 1977, and in 1978-79. He resigned in Aug. 1979.

Ecevit had served as secretary general of CHP from 1966 to 1971 and as its chairman from 1972 to 1980. By the early 1970s, the party's leadership had shifted to him from Ismet Inonu. However, under Ecevit, CHP was blamed by the military in 1980 for "acts of treason", for allowing terrorism to roam freely in the streets in the late 1970s. Ecevit was detained after the military coup of Sept. 1980 and freed the following month. He was barred from politics for ten years - as in the case of Demirel, then his arch-opponent - but his rehabilitation occurred in the mid-1980s.

Ecevit formed the DSP on Nov. 14, 1985 with his wife Rahssan as its chair-woman. He married Rahssan (Aral), a classmate from the American College for Girls, in 1946. DSP lost in 1987 elections as it could not secure one seat in the National Assembly. Ecevit said he would leave politics. But his gains in Dec. 1995 elections gave him an important say in politics. CHP, however, was revived by Deniz Baykal who acted as a power broker. In March 1996, after a deadlock among the parties and a big victory of the Islamist Refah Party (RP) of Necmettin Erbacan in the Dec. elections, ANAP leader Mesut Yilmaz and True Path Party (DYP) leader Tansu Ciller formed a coalition government with Yilmaz to be prime minister until the end of that year. But, in view of a rare personal feud, Ciller withdrew her support for the coalition in May 1996 and forced Yilmaz to resign.

Ciller struck an alliance with the RP and a DYP/RP government was formed under Erbacan's premiership. The military forced Erbacan to step down in June 1997. Appointed as premier, Yilmaz formed a government on June 30 in partnership with Ecevit's DSP and small centrist/conservative DTP. In that cabinet, Ecevit was first deputy prime minister.

Yilmaz resigned in Nov. 1998, in view of a corruption charges, and Ecevit became prime minister. In elections held on April 18, 1999, Ecevit's DSP was the main winner and got 136 of parliament's 550 seats. The MHP of Devlet Bahceli came in second with 129 seats. ANAP only got 86 seats. The three parties formed a coalition and, as President Demirel re-appointed Ecevit to the premiership in May, their government was announced.

Ecevit's government this time had a formidable majority. On June 9, 1999 it won parliament's vote of confidence by a margin of 354 to 182. While Yilmaz stayed out of the cabinet, Ecevit gave the two parties most of the important posts, with his DSP taking 13 portfolios, MHP having 12 and ANAP taking ten. Bolstered by the weakness of the opposition - with Ciller's DYP deeply divided and Erbacan's Virtue Party (RP's successor) split by complex power struggles at the top - Ecevit's cabinet got parliament to approve bold reforms and a key constitutional amendment allowing international arbitration.

This government has since overcome huge challenges. The Aug. 17, 1999 earthquake which killed tens of thousands of people and a subsequent tremor caused losses of almost $8 bn and a recession. But the economy began to recover in Oct. 1999. Ecevit's open clash with Sezer in Feb. 2001 caused a much worse recession, however, and since then his government has been struggling to stay in office.