Celal Bayar is dead
Having played important roles in different periods of contemporary Turkish history, Turkish politician and statesman Mahmut Celal Bayar was born in Bursa in 1883. He studied at Bursa Silk Vocational School of Higher Education and Collège Français de l’Assomption. He joined the Committee of Union and Progress in 1907 and was sent to izmir by the party. He became a member of Müdafaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti (Association for Defense of Rights) of izmir during the years of Armistice. When the occupation of izmir came to fore, he went into disguise as a zeybek and a village teacher under the pseudonym Galip Hoca and made propaganda against the invasion across the entire region. He was appointed as the commander of the Akhisar Front after the occupation of izmir.
He served in the last Ottoman Chamber of Deputies as the deputy of Saruhan. Following the start of the National Struggle, he crossed over to Anatolia and entered the Grand National Assembly. He was made Minister of Economy in 1921.
He played an instrumental role in the founding of İş Bankası in 1924 and served as the general manager of the bank until 1932. Bayar shone with his political aptitude and economic brilliance in the early stages of the Republic of Turkey. Once again appointed as Minister of Economy in 1932, Bayar held this position until 1937. He also served as prime minister between 1937 and 1939.
Following Turkey’s transition into multi-party politics, he co-founded Democrat Party in 1946 with Adnan Menderes, Fuat Köprülü, and Refik Koraltan and was named president of the party. When DP won the 1950 elections, he was elected third president of Turkey. Suspended from ten years of presidential duty with the coup d’état of May 27, 1960, Celal Bayar was sentenced to death on September 15, 1961 by the Court of Yass?ada. His sentence was later was commuted to life imprisonment. He was released in 1964 due to his poor health conditions. Bayar died in istanbul on August 22, 1986.
