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Süleyman Demirel (born 1924) was a seven-time Turkish prime minister who later became president. He also led the now defunct Justice party. Throughout his career, Demirel was an outspoken proponent of secularism, holding fast to the political beliefs of Republic of Turkey founder Kemel Ataturk.
Süleyman Demirel was one of the most important politicians of modern Turkey, representing the entry of the modernist, pragmatic technocrat into the political arena. Under his rule, the country made rapid economic progress. However, this led to grave socio-economic problems and to his own fall in 1971 and in 1980.
Demirel was born in 1924 in the village of Islamköy in the western province of Isparta--where the ancient city of Sparta was located--into a middle class family. After completing his schooling in the provinces, he went to Istanbul Technical University in 1942 and graduated in 1949 as a civil engineer. He entered state service and was sent to America for research at the Bureau of Reclamation in Washington, D.C., in 1949 and 1950.
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