Prof. Dr. Necmettin ERBAKAN

Necmettin Erbakan, (29 October 1926, Sinop – 27 February 2011, Ankara), is a Turkish master's mechanical engineer, academician, politician and the founder of the National Vision ideology. He served as deputy prime minister and prime minister. In 1974, he became deputy prime minister and minister of state in the coalition government established with the Republican People's Party led by Bülent Ecevit. He supported the 1974 General Amnesty and the Cyprus Operation. He became prime minister in 1996 and served as prime minister between 28 June 1996 and 30 June 1997. During the February 28 process, he was forced to resign, his party was closed and he was banned from politics for 5 years. He was sentenced to 2 years and 4 months in prison in the Missing Trillion Case.

Family and education

He was born as the eldest of four children of Mehmet Sabri Bey, who served as deputy judge in Sinop, and Kamer Hanım. His mother's side is Circassian,[1] and his father's side is from the Kozanoğlu Principality, which ruled in the Kozan, Saimbeyli and Tufanbeyli regions of Adana in the late 19th century.[2][3][4] Although he started his primary education in Kayseri, he completed it in Trabzon due to his father's appointment. He graduated from Istanbul Boys' High School, where he started his secondary education in 1937, in 1943 as the top student. Although he was entitled to enter the university without an exam, he preferred to take the exam. In 1943, the year Erbakan started his education, the Graduate School of Engineering, which had a six-year education period, was converted into a university and its name was changed to Istanbul Technical University, and the education period was reduced to five years. For this reason, Erbakan started his education from the 2nd grade together with the students who started school before him.[2] Among the students of the same period at the technical university were Süleyman Demirel from the faculty of construction and Turgut Özal from the faculty of electricity. He graduated from Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in 1948. He served as an assistant in the engine department from 1948 to 1951. In this process, Prof. as a faculty member. Dr. He gave engine lessons together with Selim Palavan.

He completed his doctorate at RWTH Aachen (Aachen Technical University) in Germany, where he was sent by the university in 1951. He was invited to the Deutz AG engine factory. Prof. at the DVL Research Center, which conducts research for the German army. Dr. He worked with Schmidt. He took part in the engine design of the Leopard tank.[5]

He returned to Turkey in 1953 to take the associate professorship exam. In 1954, at the age of 27, he became an associate professor at ITU. He went back to Germany to the Deutz factory for six months to conduct research. He completed his military service between May 1954 and October 1955. He returned to university again. Between 1956 and 1963, he founded Gümüş Motor with 200 partners, which would produce the first domestic engine, and carried out engine production. He received the title of professor in 1965. In 1967, he was elected as the general secretary of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye. In the same year, he married Nermin Erbakan, who served as his secretary at TOBB.[6] He had three children from this marriage (Zeynep, b. 1968; Elif, b. 1974 and Fatih, b. 1978).

During this period, he attracted attention by defending the merchants and small industrialists of Anatolia against the big industrialists and merchants. He was elected as TOBB chairman on May 25, 1969. But he had to leave the presidency on August 8, 1969, when the Justice Party government canceled the elections.[7]


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