Suleyman Demirel was a master pragmatist whose remarkable talent for staying on top of Turkish politics saw him survive two coups, serve seven terms as Turkey’s prime minister and cap his career with the presidency.
Unusual in Turkey’s polarized political space, Demirel — who died early Wednesday at age 90 — sought the common ground, easily abandoned grudges and occasionally stepped aside when under pressure.
“He was very pragmatic, particularly in a society where people often engage in politics through their ideologies,” said Ilter Turan, an emeritus professor of political science at Istanbul Bilgi University. “He was a man of ambition, but he was not ruthless.”
Demirel died at Ankara’s Guven Hospital of heart failure and a respiratory tract infection.
He served as head of state from 1993 to 2000, the culmination of a four-decade career that repeatedly took him in and out of high office — with two stints as prime minister in the 1960s and 1970s cut short by military intervention.
He believed his governments of the 1960s and 1970s deserved much of the credit for transforming Turkey from a largely agrarian society into an increasingly industrial and urban one, bringing higher living standards for most Turks.
