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Necmettin Erbakan
(Sinop 1926- ) Prime minister in Turkey 1996-1997, leader of coalition between the Welfare Party (his own) and the True Path Party 1996- 1997.
Out of politics, he was a professor in physics, and had lived in Germany for many years, where he worked as a scientist. He served as a minister in coalition government under Bülent Ecevit in 1974. He became one of the founders of the Welfare Party, which started to grow tremendously in the 1990's.
In 1980 Erbakan was the leader of pro-Islamic protests which resulted in a military coup. Erbakan's party was banned and he was excluded from politics for 7 years.
It is believed that the Welfare Party's politics had less support than the actual election result showed, which was 21% (December 24, 1995). People did support it, however, because it had a high reputation for honesty in municipal governments. Many also supported the Welfare Party because it a policy to help the least fortunate in the Turkish society. Erbakan raised the wages for civil servants by 50% shortly after taking office.
As prime minister, Erbakan walked a moderate line, but still oriented himself more in the direction of other Muslim states without at the same time cutting any ties to the West, which many observers had expected. In Western media, his improved relations with Iran and Libya's leader, Mu'ammar Gadhafi, at that time still an outcast as seen by the West. During his term as prime minster, Erbakan reversed his position and came to support Turkey's application for membership in the European Union (EU).
Erbakan's Welfare Party was outlawed in 1997 after a long campaign led by the Turkish military and other forces afraid of a disintegration of the country by its possible Islamization as well as by the prospects of an escalation of the conflict with Kurdish nationalists.
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By: Tore Kjeilen
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