Turgut Özal (born on October 13, 1927, Malatya, Turkey; died on April 17, 1993, Ankara, Turkey) was Turkey’s eighth president from 1989 to 1993. Having served as the Prime Minister and the President of Turkey, Turgut Özal is one of the most important players in Turkish political history. Most of his policies, which were defined as “innovative” in many fields, especially in the economy, are still influential today. Özal is referred to as “the person who opened Turkey up to the world,” and in the political arena, is considered to have significantly changed the political course of the country both, domestically and abroad. Özal is a statesman raised in the conservative/right-wing political tradition characterized by its democratic identity.  

EARLY LIFE

Born in Malatya on Oct. 13, 1927, four years after the proclamation of the Republic, Turgut Özal is the second child of Mehmet Sıddık Bey and Hafize Hanım. Nemide, who had been born before him, died when she was only 10 months old. Following him, his brothers Korkut and Yusuf Bozkurt were born on May 29, 1929, and Jan. 21, 1940, respectively. 

Mehmet Sıddık Bey, who took the surname Özal in 1934, was known by the nickname Cinlioğlu and descended from a well-established family in Malatya. Having started his career as a primary school teacher in the Hekimhan district, Mehmet Sıddık Bey had to resign from teaching after a short time and started to work as a bank clerk at the newly established Ziraat Bank in Malatya from 1928 to 1929.

Later, he graduated with first class honors in applied banking and was appointed to Söğüt, the founding location of the Ottoman Empire, as agency manager. So, Turgut started primary school in the small Anatolian town. He was the only student who passed the second grade with distinction.

Due to another appointment, the family moved to Silifke in the following years. His parents said the period they spent in Silifke deeply affected Turgut Özal’s life. By all accounts, during his childhood, Özal dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot. However, he suffered a broken arm after a fall off a donkey in Silifke and when his treatment was completed, he was left with a shorter right arm. his dream of becoming a fighter pilot fizzled out. It is said that the accident was decisive in his choice of profession; the bureaucratic life and career of a statesman.

After his father was appointed in Mardin, Özal studied at and graduated from secondary school in 1942. As he was successful in his classes, he was sent to Konya High School by his parents to get a better education. He was transferred from Konya to a high school in Kayseri along with his brother Korkut Özal, who had finished secondary school a year later. So, he finished high school in Kayseri.

In 1945, he was awarded a scholarship to the Department of Electrical Engineering of Istanbul Technical University (ITU). ITU was not only an educational institution for Özal, but also a place where he met the people who would do politics with him and who would enter into political arguments with him in the following process. Süleyman Demirel, known as the politician who formed the greatest number of governments in Turkish politics, also studied at ITU. He also met Necmettin Erbakan, the mastermind of the Millî Görüş (National Vision) movement.

BUREAUCRATIC LIFE 

Özal’s bureaucratic life began on Aug. 28, 1950 at the General Directorate of Electric Power Resources Survey and Development Administration (EIE). This is the institution where Özal practiced electrical engineering for the first time. This institution, where Demirel also worked, was among the best institutions in Ankara at the time. Here, Özal got to know about bureaucracy.

On his mother’s suggestion, Özal married Ayhan, the daughter of Hacı Hasan Bey, who was serving as a municipal accountant in Malatya, in 1951. However, this marriage didn’t last and the couple divorced two years later.

After this short marriage, Özal went to the United States where he was educated on subjects such as electrical energy and engineering economics. He was influenced by the technological change and social life in the United States. 

Here, he became acquainted with both technology and liberal culture. Özal’s experience in the United States was a turning point for his future life.

Özal was impressed by the technology he encountered every time he went to the United States and was fascinated by the new world – which began to change his outlook on life. Özal talked about watching children playing video games. “I saw that there are very good video games and children play all of them,” he said. 

According to Özal, what needed to be done was to introduce children to computers at an early age. “This computer [usage] is a serious job that children should be ensured to adopt as a habit at an early age… If we do not do so, they will overtake us,” he said. 

Ironically the Internet came to Turkey in April 1993, at the same time they laid Özal to rest. The man who popularized the computer in Turkey died the year Turkey got the Internet. When he returned to Turkey from the United States in 1953, Özal started working at EIE again and became the General Manager’s Technical Advisor.

On May 31, 1953, Özal married Semra Yeyinmen. He had two sons – Ahmet and Efe – and one daughter – Zeynep – from this marriage. 

In 1958, the government of the Democrat Party (DP) Chairman and Prime Minister Adnan Menderes decided to prepare a two-year State Investment Plan. A working group charged with preparing this plan was established under the command of EIE General Manager İbrahim Deriner. Turgut Özal was part of this working group.

Özal started working with Fatin Rüştü Zorlu, the foreign minister in the DP government, and Menderes, and worked as the secretariat of the Planning Commission. This group formed the core of the State Planning Organization (SPO).

In 1957, Demirel, whom Özal called his ‘elder brother’, became the Head of the Dams Department within the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSI). Özal also served as Demirel’s advisor from 1958 to 1959.

Özal started his military service as a reserve officer at the Ordnance School, Ankara, in 1959. He was a self-disciplined soldier. However, on May 27, 1960, a military coup took place and the military seized power, hitting him hard. 

Demirel, who was serving as the General Director of DSI at the time, resigned after the coup and joined the army. It was a twist of fate that brought Özal and Demirel together again. This time, Özal was Demirel’s commander and teacher. When asked about Demirel, he said, “He was my best student. He would get the best grades from my class.” Özal, who completed a period of his task as a reserve officer at SPO, also taught algebra lessons at Middle East Technical University (METU). During this period, he worked with Professor Erdal İnönü, who later became the Chairman of the Social Democracy Party (SODEP) and the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP).

After Demirel’s Justice Party (AP), with whom he had previously worked and served in the military, won the elections in 1964, Özal’s bureaucratic life began to change. Özal continued to work at SPO until 1965 and was appointed as an advisor to the Prime Minister after Demirel formed a government.

Özal, who was appointed as the head of the SPO in 1967, also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Ereğli Iron and Steel Factories, Chairman of the Economic Coordination Board, Chairman of the Board of the European Economic Community and the Regional Development and Cooperation Organization.

For the first time in this period, Özal talked about politics with his colleague Kemal Cantürk at SPO, telling him about his dreams, complaining about bureaucratic tutelage and saying, “I will go into politics just to break this bureaucracy.”

Özal was removed from the presidency of SPO following the March 12, 1971 military memorandum. Following this, Özal accepted an offer from the World Bank, becoming the special adviser to Robert McNamara, who was the President of the World Bank. He was particularly interested in projects related to industry and mining at the World Bank.

Returning to Turkey in 1975, Özal started to work as a senior manager and general coordinator at Sabancı Holding. He later assumed different positions in various companies. He became a member of the Metalware Industrialists’ Union (MESS) and after a while, he became a board director and then the chairman of MESS.

EARLY POLITICAL CAREER

Özal decided to step into politics with the AP. His brother Korkut Özal played an important role in Özal entering politics. Özal crossed paths with Korkut Özal in many areas, from primary school to university, from the government offices they worked in to their political preferences.

The Özal brothers, who started public service at an early age, acted together at moments in political history. While one of them was the undersecretary at SPO, the other served as the Regional and General Manager of DSI.

Overwhelmed by his political preferences, Korkut Özal served as a minister before Turgut Özal. He expected to be nominated from Bursa or Kayseri from the AP, led by Demirel, in the 1977 elections. However, he was neither called by anyone, nor nominated. 

He became a deputy candidate in Izmir from the National Salvation Party (MSP), the party of Necmettin Erbakan, where his brother Korkut Özal was the lynchpin; however, he lost the election with 11,000 votes. Failing to get results from his attempt to enter into politics, Özal continued to work at MESS, saying: “You win some, you lose some in politics.” 

In 1979, Demirel formed a minority government. Demirel thought that the country was in an economic turndown and should be taken out of this situation, and competent people were needed to achieve this. In this very process, Özal crossed paths with Demirel once again. 

In the same year, Özal was appointed to both the SPO and the Undersecretariat of the Prime Ministry by Demirel, who had formed a minority government. Özal was behind the preparation and implementation of the decisions on economic stability known as the “Jan. 24 Decisions”.

Turkey, which, according to Demirel, was “in need of 70 cents” in 1977, came to find external loans and postponed its outstanding external debts after the Jan. 24 Decisions. According to Demirel, the opening of external loans after the Jan. 24 Decisions breathed fresh life into the economy and relieved the “economic depression.” This is how Özal started rising to prominence.    

SEPT. 12, 1980 COUP AND QUEST FOR A NEW PARTY 

On. Sept. 12, 1980, the country experienced a coup. In the government formed after the Sept. 12 coup, Özal served as the Deputy Prime Minister in Charge of Economic Affairs.

Özal explained the reason for his appointment, saying: “The incoming government asked me to continue the work we started with the Jan. 24 Decisions. I think that one of the main reasons for the point reached in Turkey today is that these decisions were made.”

Due to the disagreement in the monetary policy and the duality in the economy, he resigned 22 months after he was appointed to this position.

In 1982, Özal started to work on forming a party; he met different segments of society and exchanged ideas with them. Özal named the party he founded “Motherland” (Anavatan) thinking that the concept was a unifying one. According to Özal, “Turkey needs unifying movements and unifying symbols. In the 1950s, Turkey needed democracy. This need emerged in the 1940s.

The DP was born out of this need and the party was named for this reason. In the 1960s, the country needed justice. So, the Justice Party was founded as a result of this need. The issues of democracy and justice were settled. However, Turkey faced fragmentation in the 1980s, giving rise to the need to symbolize the unity of the homeland. “It is the concept of the ‘Motherland’ that expresses this unity in the best way” he said.

The aim of uniting different segments of society around the Motherland Party (ANAP) was symbolized by the “ANAP greeting”, the uniting of hands above the head.

In addition, the political and social fragmentation that occurred during the military coup of Sept. 12, 1980 created the historical and sociological atmosphere of unification around the concept of the Motherland. This is because Turkish history says that the motherland is the one which offers its blessings, and is affectionate and nurturing like a ‘mother’. That’s why the Turks called their homeland the Motherland. The father, who symbolizes the state, is the one who protects the people and eliminates threats. In this context, choosing the name Motherland is compatible with Özal’s view of the state and the nation.

According to Özal, “The state exists for the nation. The integration of the state with the nation is essential.” After all, modern societies do not regard the state as a “father.” Özal strove to develop a typology of citizens seeking their rights against the state. He also opposed the understanding of the “master state” or “the state that is served” imposed on the traditional state. For him, the state is an institution that serves the nation.

According to Özal, “If you see the state as a father, you have to accept that sometimes it may beat you, which contradicts democracy.” In this context, the state should be at the disposal and service of the nation and ensure the safety of life and property of citizens.

PRIME MINISTRY 

The ANAP, which entered the parliamentary elections of Nov. 6, 1983 under the leadership of Özal, was not given a chance as the army was against Özal. However, on Nov. 7, 1983, political calculations were turned upside down; ANAP won the general elections with an overwhelming majority of 45.14 percent, and Özal became the new Prime Minister of Turkey.

Özal, who climbed to the top of the nation’s bureaucracy during Demirel’s rule and rose to the rank of deputy prime minister during the military administration, finally became the 19th Prime Minister of Turkey on Nov. 6, 1983. Thus, Özal was the only prime minister and president in the history of the Republic of Turkey to have served as both the SPO Undersecretariat and the Prime Ministry Undersecretary.

Özal served as prime minister for two terms, from 1983 to 1987 and from 1987 to 1989. During this period, the country went through a technological and political transformation in almost every field.

WHAT IS “OZALISM?”

The paradigm on which the change that took place over a period of short time was based on nationalism, conservatism, social justice and a competitive free market economy. ANAP brought together and combined four tendencies — liberal, conservative, nationalist and social democrat — in its own pot.

Combining political discourses and practices such as free market economy, freedom of enterprise, reduction of bureaucracy, abandonment of statism and greater authority of local governments with cultural conservatism not only brought Özal to power, but also made him one of the prominent political players in recent history and gave rise to the concept of “Özalism.”

Özalism was an attempt to restructure Turkey in the field of domestic and foreign policy. The United Kingdom’s Thatcherism, the United States’ Reaganomics and Turkey’s Özalism referred to the process of restructuring the state at a time of financial difficulties like unemployment or loss of income.

The basic philosophy of Özalism is the limitation of the state and the expansion of individual freedoms. Individuals should be provided freedom especially in the economic field, and the state should withdraw from the sphere of activity of the individual. In line with this understanding, Özal’s government made regulations to reduce bureaucracy, strengthen the free market economy, ensure privatization and outward oriented growth. 

Özal followed an economy-oriented, active and multidimensional foreign policy. The basis of Özal’s foreign policy understanding was the economy. In order to understand his understanding of economy, the first source to be resorted to was the program of the ANAP that he founded. 

His party program set the general principles for achieving economic goals as follows: Promoting savings; increasing investments and production and job opportunities with the efficient and rapid use of savings and resources; bringing a stable and continuous solution to the balance of external payments; increasing exports and their share in national income; keeping foreign contracting, transportation and inflation at very low levels; ensuring price stability, ensuring the integrity of decisions in economic, financial, monetary and loan policies and maintaining the implementation in harmony.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 

During Özal’s term, Turkey became one of the 40 most competitive economies in the world with a growth rate of 5.2 percent. Moreover, in 1984, at a time when world trade declined and national markets shrank considerably, Turkey rose to first place in the world in terms of export growth.

Exports skyrocketed to $7.1 billion in 1984 and $11.7 billion in 1988 from $5.7 billion in 1983. According to Özal, the reason for this rise is that the state made investments that could pay for themselves in 15 years. He thought “high inflation has emerged as a transformation that can be done in 70-100 years but has been squeezed into a decade.”

However, although the gross national product (GNP) growth rate was negative in 1979 and 1980, its average annual growth rate was 6 percent during the first Özal government from 1984 to 1988.  

The growth rate in 1989 was 1.7 percent. The policies implemented in the 1980-1988 period changed the basic structure of the Turkish economy and the weight of the sectors in the economy. In this period, the annual growth rate of the agricultural sector was around 4 percent, while the annual average growth in the industrial sector exceeded 7 percent.

As a result of these different growth rates in the agricultural and industrial sectors, the share of the agricultural sector in GNP declined by 19 percent in 1989 from 24 percent in 1980, while the share of industry soared to 26 percent from 22 percent in the same period. 

This was the most obvious indicator that a significant structural change took place in the Turkish economy between 1980 and 1990.

Despite many negative developments at that time, Turkey managed to become a developing country rising from among the underdeveloped countries in the world, and the Turkish economy became one of the world’s fastest growing economies during Özal’s era.

Along with the growing economy, significant moves were made in the fields of transportation, energy, communication, highway, electricity and defense industries. These include the construction of the second bridge on the Bosporus, known as the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, the launch of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), the construction of Anti-Aircraft Gun Factory in Çankırı, and the Habitat Natural Gas Power Plant, which was aimed at using Thrace’s gas in industry.

According to Özal, who aimed to establish a close link between the economy and politics, a country with a growing economy also gains political weight. So, the economy has an important place in the foreign policy of a country.

The main objective of Özal’s economy-oriented foreign policy was to make Turkey a deterrent force in its region, to act as a bridge between international power balances and to develop an international relations network where Turkey was at the center.

FOREIGN POLICY

Özal believed that a union of interests realized through economic cooperation and integration would be the guarantee of peace and stability. According to him, economic interests and expectations brought Germany and France together, leading to the emergence of a structure like the European Union.

Also, bringing together the Turkic Republics and Turkey with an understanding of regional cooperation and forming a Turkish Union was a part of Özal’s economic-oriented foreign policy.

Özal, who frequently underlined his active foreign policy attitude, believed that Turkey should lead the way in new situations that would arise in the Middle East and the Balkans, as well as arguing that Turkey should act as a locomotive in the world. According to Özal, Turkey’s foreign policy should be active and assertive, not passive and reactive.

Özal’s understanding of foreign policy can be put in a nutshell as follows: An outward-looking, multifaceted, economy-oriented and risk-taking policy that attaches importance to political and diplomatic relations, and focuses on regional investments and projects.

The Peace Water Project is the manifestation of this foreign policy understanding. Özal called the drinking water that he aimed to deliver from Turkey to Islamic countries and Israel “The Peace Water Project,” arguing that this project could help build a new relationship with both Middle East countries and Israel. Thinking that this project was an opportunity to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, Özal aimed to increase Turkey’s power in the region.

“If you give water, you will eventually agree. Maybe it will give me oil to tie me to itself. Maybe it will give me natural gas. It may lay the pipes. We won’t fight when we are dependent on each other. Friendship and trade may replace fighting,” Özal said. However, Özal was left alone and the project could not be realized.

Taking risks in politics, Özal started to introduce his policies to the public for the first time on Jan. 31, 1984, on a TV program called “İcraatın İçinden” (From Within Actions). This was quite a new situation for Turkish politics. In a sense, the government’s identification with action and its emphasis on pragmatic values rather than ideological ones brought social harmony, consolidation and consensus to the fore. For five years, he gave an account of his actions to the nation.

Özal also won the local elections held on March 25, 1984. His party, ANAP, became the first party to gain 41.5 percent of the vote. The party’s vote in the mayoral election was even higher. ANAP received 43 percent of the vote in the mayoral elections, increasing its voter support to 50 percent in the metropolitan municipality elections.

At the first congress held on April 13, 1985, Özal was re-elected as the chairman. In the general elections held in 1987, Özal’s party had 292 deputies, gaining the majority again and forming the 46th government.

Özal had to go to the United States in 1987 to undergo a coronary bypass surgery while he was serving as Prime Minister and ANAP Chairman. He was accompanied by his wife Semra Özal, his daughter Zeynep, and his sons Ahmet and Efe. Özal had coronary by-pass surgery at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, United States. The head of the surgical team was world-renowned cardiac surgeon Professor Michael DeBakey.

Under Özal’s leadership, Turkey applied for full accession to the European Community (EC) on April 14, 1987. Since his priority was to bring economic prosperity to the country, Özal aspired for EC accession due to economic’concerns rather than Westernism policy. This application was an important threshold for Turkey on its way to the European Union. However, Özal did not receive a favorable outcome from this attempt.

Özal also won the snap parliamentary elections held in 1987 and remained in power alone, having the opportunity to serve the country as prime minister for another five years. The most important development in this period was Özal’s appointment of Necip Torumtay as the Chief of General Staff to replace Necdet Üruğ, who retired in July 1987, instead of Necdet Öztorun, who was proposed by the Turkish Armed Forces. This appointment was an important success for the civilian politics against military tutelage, ending the Sept. 12 regime. 

ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN 1988

During ANAP’s 2nd Ordinary Congress held on June 18, 1988, Özal came under the armed attack from Kartal Demirağ. Shortly after he took the platform to give a speech, an attacker named Kartal Demirağ fired twice and the bullet ricocheted off the foot of the microphone in front of Özal, hitting his right thumb.

Following this, Özal, injured, came to the platform and continued his speech: “I would like to point out that there is no one to take the life Allah has given, except with his permission, and we have surrendered to him,” signaling that he would resolutely continue his political journey. 

The attacker was wounded by the fire opened by one of Özal’s bodyguards and was later caught. Demirağ, who was first sentenced to life imprisonment, was pardoned by Özal after serving four years in prison. However, the assassination of Özal still remains a mystery.

PRESIDENCY 

On Oct. 31, 1989, Özal was elected the 8th President of Turkey by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) and took office as the President on Nov. 9. Thus, Çankaya Mansion, which was represented by presidents of military background with the exception of Celal Bayar, and which was the symbol of Kemalism, gained a civilian outlook. 

One of the issues that Özal brought to the agenda during his presidency was the presidential system. There were several reasons why Özal preferred the presidential system, with the first one being the search for stability.

“The presidential system is the best way to ensure rapid change and stability,” he said.

Özal ran in elections that were held in 1983, the same year he founded the ANAP, and came to power alone. During his Prime Ministry, a rapid process of change started in all areas, especially in the economy. According to Özal, who believed that the transformation would happen with the presidential system; important moves in Turkey took place during the period of the founding leader of the country, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, during the Democrat Party (DP) period and when the Justice Party (AP) and ANAP were in power alone.

The main feature of these periods was the de facto presidential system. According to Özal, who upheld the idea of a president who is directly elected by the people, with broad powers and responsibilities, the presidential system is more appropriate for countries where broad-based ethnic or religious communities live. Thus, he thought that it would be possible to get rid of the coalitions and instability that arise in countries ruled with the parliamentary and proportional representation system.

According to Özal, the presidential system is more suitable for the sociological structure of Turkey’s society. Emphasizing at every opportunity that the presidential system should be discussed, Özal drew attention to the multinational parliamentary democracies in Europe, the confederative structure in Switzerland and the semi-presidential system in France.

Another reason for his aspiration for a presidential system was to be able to make and implement decisions quickly. Özal complained about not being able to pass the law at his will in Parliament when he was the Prime Minister, and not being able to carry out actions plans when he was the President.

The fact that judicial bodies were among these restrictive mechanisms in places was an important reason for Özal’s desire for a different government system.

“When you talk about privatization, you are faced with the Constitutional Court. This means that the constitution, the law on political parties and the election law need to be changed. The presidential model is the best model for Turkey.” This is how Ahmet Özal explains his father’s view of the presidential system. 

THE MEMORY OF NAİM SÜLEYMANOĞLU

For Özal, Bulgaria was a province of the Ottoman empire. Therefore, he considered the issue of Turks in Bulgaria to be much more important than the issue of Turks in other countries.

His idea manifested itself with granting Turkish citizenship to world weightlifting record holder Naim Süleymanoğlu.

Süleymanoğlu fled during the Olympics and took refuge in Turkey. The Bulgarian government wanted him back. Ekrem Pakdemirli, Minister of Finance at the time, spoke about Özal’s perspective put forward during Süleymanoğlu’s asylum process in Turkey, saying: “I was the Minister of Finance. I had the expense documents of the discretionary fund. ‘We will grant Turkish citizenship to Naim Süleymanoğlu, but they want $7 million,’ Brother Turgut said. ‘I will not,’ I said. ‘Okay, Ekrem,’ he said, adding: ‘You are very clever, I will ask you a question.’ ‘Suppose that we got Naim Süleymanoğlu, he joined the Olympics, competed with the Turkish flag and became a champion. The Turkish flag was hoisted and the [Turkish] National Anthem was sung. How much would you pay for your national anthem to be sung abroad?”

When Özal said this, Pakdemirli was moved to tears, saying, “Let’s give it, brother.” The money was given to the Bulgarian secret service. Süleymanoğlu both participated in the competition on behalf of Turkey and won, and got rid of Bulgaria’s oppression.”

FIGHT AGAINST PKK TERRORISM

One of the problems Turkey faced during Özal’s period was the Kurdish issue. Özal, who came to power with the elections held on Nov. 6, 1983, faced the PKK’s first armed attack, the Şemdinli-Eruh attack on Aug. 15, 1984.

Özal strove to solve this attack by the PKK with a series of security policies. He explained why he acted like this, saying: “We could have dealt with this Southeast issue earlier and sought a political solution. But remember… The first period of the ANAP government was characterized by a struggle for the transition to a civilian regime. For about one and a half years, some of my ministers listened to Kenan [Evren] Paşa rather than me… They were scared of him, not me… First of all, we had to overcome the financial bottlenecks and foreign exchange problems. In order to prevent new military coups in a country that just came out of the military regime, we should have done it this way.”

Contrary to the first years of the Özal government, the Kurdish question shifted from the military to the political and social sphere during his presidency. Özal opted for a democratic initiative as a solution and put democracy at the center.

As a result of Özal’s attempts, the ban on Kurdish language was lifted in 1991 and Kurdish television broadcasts were allowed. During Özal’s period, Turkey saw significant developments in terms of various democratic rights and freedoms, especially freedom of thought, and gained a more advanced democratic culture.  

In addition to officially recognizing the Kurdish identity, Özal also sought a political solution to the problem. In 1992, he met the deputies of the People’s Labor Party (HEP) at Çankaya Mansion, saying: “This issue cannot be resolved by force of arms with bludgeons… I will definitely solve the Kurdish issue as well. This will be my last service to my nation.”

Expressing his determination to solve the Kurdish problem at every opportunity, Özal highlighted the political solution. “It was wrong to approach the issue with a ‘disciplinary mentality’ in the periods after the National Struggle. The most important issue in terms of Turkey’s national integrity is not the Armenian issue, but this. We think that this issue cannot be solved with a disciplinary mentality. This leads to great reactions years later. In our opinion, the issue should be resolved politically, not through discipline,” he said. 

Regarding the resolution of the Kurdish issue, Özal displayed political courage and liberal attitude, arguing for the founding of a new federal state consisting of Mosul and Kirkuk under the leadership of Turkey. During his presidency in particular, he highlighted the idea of making Turkey a center of attraction in its region.  

In addition to his policies that were characterized by fighting terrorism, implementing the GAP, taking liberalising economic measures, and granting democratic-political and cultural rights, he also emphasized further democracy, further law and further welfare and the recognition of the identity and cultural rights of the Kurds.  

During his presidency, Özal made an effort to develop the freedom of thought, conscience and religion and the freedom of enterprise in a universal sense. Therefore, his government abolished Articles 141, 142, and 163 to expand the democratic sphere. 

Özal died on April 17, 1993. As he managed to establish close and sincere relations with people from all walks of life, hundreds of thousands of people shouted the slogan “civil, democratic and religious president”, while paying their final respects to him. In line with his last will and testament, he was buried in Istanbul, saying: “I want to be under the spiritual spirit of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror until the end of the day,” he was buried next to Menderes, “whom he was honored to be an officer of,” on the Vatan Street in Fatih, Istanbul. 

However, Özal’s sudden death brought assassination allegations to the fore. Semra Özal, Korkut Özal, Ahmet Özal and even former Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Van Deputy Fatma Kurtulan claimed that Özal did not die a natural death, but was assassinated.

Semra Özal argued that Özal was assassinated due to his desire to achieve Turkish unity, while Fatma Kurtalan said that he was assassinated due to his will to resolve the Kurdish issue. Such allegations and Özal’s sudden death reinforced further assassination conspiracy theories. 

So, it was decided on Oct. 3, 2012 that his grave would be opened and examined to investigate the assassination claims related to his death. According to the examinations and autopsy report, no traces of poison were found in any tissue samples belonging to Özal. However, the controversy surrounding his death is still ongoing.

FOR FURTHER READING 

  1. Acar, Tuncer. Yurt Hizmetinde… Lider Özal ve Anavatan. Doğruluk Matbaacılık. 1986
  2. Acar, Tuncer. In Service of the Nation. The Leader Özal and the Motherland, Doğruluk Printing. 1986
  3. Akkır, Ramazan. Türkiye’de Muhafazakarlık. Kutup Yıldızı Yayınları. 1985
  4. Akkır, Ramazan. Conservatism in Turkey. Kutup Yıldızı Publications. 1985
  5. Aktan, Coşkun Can. Turgut Özal’ın Değişim Modeli ve Değişime karşı Direnen Güçlerin Tahlili. Türkiye Günlüğü Dergisi. 1996
  6. Aktan, Coşkun Can. Turgut Özal’s Model of Change and Analysis of Forces Resisting Change. Türkiye Günlüğü journal. 1996
  7. ANAP Media, Publications and Public Relations Department Publication
  8. Speeches by Mr. Turgut Özal, Chairman of the Motherland Party and Prime Minister, Oct. 16-31, 1989. Media, Publications and Public Relations Department Publication. 1989 
  9. Ataman, Muhittin. Özalizm: Türkiye’de Yeniden Yapılanma Teşebbüsü. Liberal Düşünce. 2000
  10. Ataman, Muhittin. Özalism: Reconstruction Initiative in Turkey. Liberal Thought. 2000
  11. Barlas, Mehmet. Turgut Özal’ın Anıları. Sabah Kitapları. 1994
  12. Barlas, Mehmet. Memoirs of Turgut Özal. Sabah Books. 1994
  13. Birand, Mehmet Ali ve Yalçın, Soner. The Özal: Bir Davanın Öyküsü. Doğan Kitap. 2009
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