İsmet Sezgin was born in 1928, in Aydın as the eldest of 9 children. He completed his primary and secondary education in Aydın and graduated from high school in İzmir. He received higher education at the High Economy and Trade School (now Dokuz Eylül University). During his student years, he was involved in athletics.[citation needed]
After graduating from the High Economy and Trade School in 1950, he immediately began working at the Turkey Real Estate Credit Bank (now Ziraat Bankası) Denizli branch. He married Saadet Sezgin, a mathematics teacher in 1952 and was also elected to the Democrat Party Denizli Provincial Administration Board in the same year.[2]
Political career
Mayor of Aydın
Sezgin was elected as the Mayor of Aydın in the 1955 local elections from the Democrat Party. He was removed from office as a result of the 1960 coup d'état, during which the Democrat Party government led by Adnan Menderes was ousted from power. As a member of the Democrats, Sezgin was briefly arrested after being removed from office.[citation needed]
Justice Party
After being freed, Sezgin established the provincial office of the new Justice Party (AP), which was seen as the successor to the Democrat Party. In the 1961 general election, he was elected as an AP Member of Parliament for Aydın. In 1963, he became the President of the Turkish Municipal Association, serving until 1985. In 1967, he became the Chairman of Gençlerbirliği S.K. and served until 1968. In 1968, he was made a Deputy Leader of the Justice Party.[citation needed]
Minister of Youth and Sports
After the Justice Party won a parliamentary majority in the 1969 general election, Justice Party leader and Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel established the Ministry of Youth and Sports and appointed İsmet Sezgin as Turkey's first Minister of Youth and Sports in his government. Although Demirel briefly resigned after his party MPs rebelled against the government's budget proposals, Sezgin continued as Youth and Sports Minister in the 32nd government of Turkey, which was also formed by Demirel. Sezgin was removed from office, as was the rest of the government, following the 1971 Turkish coup d'état.[citation needed]
Minister of Finance
Although the Republican People's Party (CHP) was the largest party in Parliament, a poor performance in by-election resulted in the CHP government resigning. Süleyman Demirel was once again tasked with the formation of a new government and eventually formed the 43rd government of Turkey with outside support from the Islamist National Salvation Party (MSP). The government was formed entirely by Justice Party MPs, with Sezgin becoming the Minister of Finance. Due to the parliamentary deadlock resulting from a failed attempt to elect a new President in 1980, the government was ousted from power by the 1980 Turkish coup d'état led by General Kenan Evren. Parliament was abolished and Sezgin was banned, along with many other politicians, from running for political office.[3]
After President Turgut Özal's death in 1993, Demirel was subsequently elected as the 9thPresident of Turkey in the 1993 presidential election. In the subsequent leadership election, Sezgin put his name forward as a candidate but withdrew in the second round of the election. After Tansu Çiller was elected as the leader of the DYP, Sezgin resigned as Interior Minister.[citation needed]
In the 1999 general election, the DTP won just 0.58% of the vote, falling far below the 10% election threshold necessary to win parliamentary representation. Sezgin, as well as all other DTP MPs, lost their seats in Parliament. As a result, Hüsamettin Cindoruk resigned as party leader. Sezgin was subsequently elected as the DTP leader in place of Cindoruk, but resigned in May 2002 without contesting any elections as party leader. He announced that he was retiring from active politics. The DTP contested the 2002 general election under an electoral alliance with the DYP, but the two parties combined still failed to pass the 10% boundary.[6]
Personal life
İsmet Sezgin married mathematics teacher Saadet (Sezgin) in 1952; she died in 2004. They had two daughters, Seynan Levent and Ayşe. Sezgin died of multiple organ failure on 7 December 2016, aged 88.[7]
Legacy and recognition
In the Bornova district of İzmir, there is a primary school named after Sezgin.[8]