Bülent Ecevit

Statesman and poet (b. 1925, İstanbul). He is the son of the former Kastamonu parliamentary deputy Fahri Ecevit and the painter Nazlı Ecevit. He graduated from American Robert College (1944). He discontinued his education at Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geography, Department of English Language and Literature (1944- 46). He worked as a translator at the General Directorate of Press (1946- 48) and as a press attaché in London (1948- 50). After returning to Turkey, he worked at the newspapers Halkçı and Yeni Ulus (1950- 54) and as a guest writer at The Winston Salem Journal (1955) in the United States.  He again worked as a writer at the newspaper Ulus and later returned to the United States with a Rockefeller scholarship and carried out research at Harvard University (1957).

In the same year he was elected as an Ankara parliamentary deputy, entered the Turkish Grand National Assembly and his active political life started. He was elected as a member of the Constitutional Parliament that was established after 27 May. He has been a parliamentary deputy for Zonguldak, Labor Minister, Chairman of the Republican People’s Party (1972- 80), Prime Minister (1973- 76, and again in 1979), Chairman of the Democrat Left Party, Deputy Prime Minister in the coalition government of the Motherland Party, the Democrat Left Party and the True Path Party (1997- 98) and Prime Minister in the Democratic Left Party/Motherland Party/Nationalist Action Party coalition government (1999- 2002). He left his office as the Chairman of the Democratic Left Party in 2003 explaining he would focus on literature for the remainder of his life.

His translations from poets such as Tagore, T. S. Elliot and Ezra Pound and his poems, essays and political articles have been published in reviews and newspapers such as Hep Bu Toprak, Yücel, Halkçı, Ulus and Özgür İnsan.

WORKS:

POETRY: Şiirler (Poems, 1976), Işığı Taştan Oydum (I Hollowed Light from Stone, 1978).

THOUGHT-RESEARCH: Ortanın Solu (Left of the Middle, 1966), Bu Düzen Değişmelidir (This Order Has to Be Changed, 1968), Atatürk ve Devrimcilik (Atatürk and Revolution, 1970), Kurultaylar ve Sonrası (General Assemblies and Afterwards, 1972), Demokratik Sol ve Hükümet Bunalımı (Democratic Left and Government Collapse, 1974), Demokratik Solda Temel Kavramlar ve Sorunlar (General Notions and Issues of the Democratic Left, 1975), Dış Politika (Foreign Policy, 1975), Dünya-Türkiye-Milliyetçilik (World-Turkey-Nationalism, 1975), Toplum-Siyaset-Yönetim (Society-Politics-Governance, 1975), İşçi-Köylü Elele (Worker-Peasant Hand in Hand, 1976), Türkiye / 1965-1975 (Turkey / 1965- 1975, 1976), Umut Yılı: 1977 (Year of Hope: 1977, 1977).

REFERENCE: Şemsi Belli / Bülent Ecevit (1975), Abdullah Lelik / Erbakan mı Ecevit mi? (1975), Cüneyt Arcayürek / Hastanedeki Ecevit (1986), Feyzi Halıcı / Şair Parlamenterler (1990), Orhan Duru / Ecevit’in Çilesi (1995), İbrahim Oluklu / Seni Yazarak (Balıkesir, 2003), Nail Tan - Özdemir Tan / Gurur Kaynağımız Kastamonulular V (2005), Cüneyt Arcayürek / Bir Özgürlük Tutkunu Bülent Ecevit (2006), Aras Erdoğan / Umut Adam Ecevit (2006), İhsan Işık / Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2007) - Ünlü Devlet Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 1, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Fomous People (2013), Can Dündar - Rıdvan Akar / Ecevit ve Gizli Arşivi (2008).