Fahri Korutürk

Soldier, statesman, diplomat and the VI. President of the Republic of Turkey (B. 1903, Istanbul - D. 12th October 1987, Istanbul). His full name was Fahri Sabri Korutürk. He was the son of Osman Sabit Efendi, who was one of the clerks of the Ottoman Porte, the father of the diplomat and politician Osman Korutürk and the diplomat Salah Korutürk, and the father-in-law of the diplomat Zergün Korutürk. In 1923, he finished the Mektebi Fünûn-u Bahriye-yi Şahane (Naval Military College) in which he entered in 1916 and he joined the Naval Forces Command as an ensign. He took charge in the warship Yavuz and he participated in torpedo lessons (1924). He worked as an officer and as a mathematics teacher in the Gedikli Zabit Namzet School (Naval Petty Officer Preparatory School) (1925). He participated in submarine lessons in the same school (1926). After that, he was assigned as a company commander in cruisers of Hamidiye (1927) and Mecidiye (1928). He became gunner and watch officer in the 1^st İnönü Submarine Ship (1929). In 1933, he finished the Naval Military Academy, in which he entered in 1930, as a chief of staff and he was assigned to the Intelligence Bureau Department of the General Staff (1934).

Korutürk carried out a duty abroad for the first time as the Deputy Naval Attaché of Rome (1935). He was assigned as the Naval Attaché of Berlin in the year 1936. As a military specialist, he attended the Conference on Straits that was organized for the Montreux Convention signed in the same year. In his return to the homeland, he worked as the Chief of Staff of Submarine Ships (1938), as the Commandant of the Dumlupınar Submarine Ship (1940) and as the Deputy Commodore of the 1^st Submarine Flotilla (1941). One year after that, he became the Naval Attaché of Berlin again and he simultaneously conducted the duty of the Military Attaché of Stockholm during the period of this duty.

Fahri Korutürk became the 2^nd Submarine Flotilla Commodore in the year 1943 and he was assigned as the teacher of natural philosophy in the Naval Military Academy one year after that. He was assigned as the Commandant of the Naval Military Academy in 1945. In the year 1947, in which he advanced to the Rear Admiralty/Lower Half, he was assigned to the Submarine Fleet Command. In 1953, he was assigned as the Rear Admiral/Upper Half in the Battle Fleet Command. He worked in the duties of the Naval Training Commander (1954), of the President of the General Staff Intelligence Agency (1955) and of the Fleet Commander in the same year. In the year 1956, he advanced to the Vice Admiralty and he was assigned to the Naval Corps Command of Straits and Marmara. He carried on duties such as the commander of the Naval Military College, the Naval field Commander of Istanbul. He became the Commander of the Naval Forces in 1957. He was appointed as Admiral while his duty was going on (1959).  Upon his appointment as the Ambassador of Moscow after 27^th May 1960, he got retired from soldiering on 27^th August 1960.

Korutürk was appointed as the Ambassador of Madrid (1964) after his duty in the Embassy of Moscow. In the year of 1965, he resigned and left his duty by bringing forward that he was a non-professional ambassador. In the year of 1963, he was appointed as the contingent senator of the Presidency by Cevdet Sunay who was the V. President of the Republic of Turkey and became the president of the contingent group after a while. Upon the termination of the seven years of term of office for Cevdet Sunay, Fahri Korutürk stood as a candidate of the President of the Republic after the nominees could not satisfy the necessary vote in the election made by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) and he was elected as the VI. President of the Republic of Turkey on 17^th April 1973 as the only candidate on which the parties in the parliament agreed.

As the President of the Republic, Fahri Korutürk was obliged to pass a difficult period after the general elections made in October 1973. The fact that none of the political parties satisfied the electoral quotient in TBMM and that the right and left fronts conflicted seriously on the subject of the coalition, complicated the formation of the government. The fact that this topic was suspended for three months necessitated that the President of the State, Korutürk, should both convince political party leaders and make statements frequently to moderate the popular opinion. In the end, Korutürk had an important role in solving the problem of the formation of the government with the collaboration of the Cumhuriyet Halk Party (CHP) lead by Bülent Ecevit and the Milli Selamet Party (MSP) lead by Necmettin Erbakan. Korutürk continued his duty of the VI. President of the Republic of Turkey until the legal period ended on 6^th April 1980 and he quitted his duty of the President of the Republic in April 1980. After that, he took place in the Senate of the Republic as a natural senator until 12^th September 1980.

The fact that the period of the Presidency of Korutürk was an unsteady period of Turkey turned his role of president of the state into the position of a linchpin. Korutürk made a big effort in the creation and survival of the coalition governments formed in this period. However, the anarchy environment in Turkey was spread at full tilt again in the 1970s. While the policy he adopted during his Presidency was responded positively by some milieus, it was also responded negatively by some other milieus.

On 1st March 1944, he married painter Emel Korutürk, the daughter of the former Parliamentarian Mesen Salah Cimcoz and the grandchild of Moralı İbrahim Paşa and he had three children from this marriage. Korutürk, whose last name is given by Atatürk owns a book named “Atatürk’le Karşı Karşıya”. He deceased as a result of a heart attack and he was buried in the ground in the State Cemetery of Ankara.