Hüseyin Cahit Aral (1927 – 1 November 2011) was a Turkish engineer, politician and former government minister. Cahit Aral was born 1927 in

Elazığ Elazığ () is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, and the administrative centre of Elazığ Province and Elazığ District. It is located in the uppermost Euphrates valley. The plain on which the city extends has an altitude of . ...

to primary school teacher parents Fatma and Hakkı Aral. His was named in honor of the writer and journalist

Hüseyin Cahit Yalçın Hüseyin Cahit Yalçın (7 December 1874 – 18 October 1957) was a prominent Turkish theorist, writer and politician. He is famous for being a dissident journalist, who has been put on trial and punished due to his columns. His publications de ...

(1875–1957). He graduated from the

Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University ( tr, İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, commonly referred to as ITU or The Technical University) is an international technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third-oldest technical universit ...

. Cahit Aral entered politic after working some years in the industry. He was among the founders of the Motherland Party (ANAP), which was established after the

1980 Turkish coup d'état The 1980 Turkish coup d'état ( tr, 12 Eylül Darbesi), headed by Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren, was the third coup d'état in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the previous having been the 1960 coup and the 1971 coup ...

. He served as Minister of Industry of Commerce in the cabinet of

Turgut Özal Halil Turgut Özal (; 13 October 192717 April 1993) was a Turkish politician, who served as the 8th President of Turkey from 1989 to 1993. He previously served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey from 1983 to 1989 as the leader of the Mothe ...

. He is remembered for his message "Don't worry!" while drinking a glass of

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

in front of the cameras following the

Chernobyl disaster The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 nuclear reactor, reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainia ...

that occurred on 26 April 1986, and downplaying the disaster's possible risk effects on human health caused by radioactivity released into the environment in the

Black Sea Region The Black Sea Region ( tr, Karadeniz Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Samsun. Other big cities are Trabzon, Ordu, Tokat, Giresun, Rize, Amasya and Sinop. It is bordered by the Marmara Region ...

, where Turkey's tea plantations are located. For this reason, he was nicknamed "Bekerel Cahit" (Cahit the

Becquerel The becquerel (; symbol: Bq) is the unit of radioactivity in the International System of Units (SI). One becquerel is defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second. For applications relat ...

). Cahit Aral died of heart failure on 1 November 2011 in Istanbul. He was laid to rest at the Zincirlikuyu Cemetery on 3 November 2011 following a state funeral and the religious funeral service at Levent Mosque.

References

1927 births 2011 deaths People from Elazığ Motherland Party (Turkey) politicians Government ministers of Turkey Deputies of Ankara Deputies of Elazığ Turkish mechanical engineers Istanbul Technical University alumni Burials at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery {{Turkey-politician-stub