Gün Sazak
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Gün Sazak (26 March 1932 – 27 May 1980) was a Turkish nationalist politician and former government minister of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). He was assassinated by the
Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front ( tr, Devrimci Halk Kurtuluş Partisi-Cephesi or DHKP-C) is a far-left Marxist–Leninist Communist party in Turkey. It was founded in 1978 as Revolutionary Left (Turkish: or ), and has been inv ...
after his police guard was removed. After his killing, MHP supporters carried out the
Çorum massacre Çorum () (Medieval Greek: Ευχάνεια, romanized: Euchaneia) is a northern Anatolian city that is the capital of the Çorum Province of Turkey. Çorum is located inland in the central Black Sea, Black Sea Region of Turkey, and is approximat ...
in reprisal.


Early life and family

Gün Sazak was born on 26 March 1932 in Ankara to Emin Sazak and his wife Ayşe. His father was a member of parliament from the
Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party ...
(CHP) and later the Democrat Party (DP). His brother
Güven Sazak Güven Sazak (1935 in Ankara, Turkey – 25 April 2011) was the 40th President of Türkiye Süper Ligi club Fenerbahçe SK between 1993 and 1994. He has been a member of the club since 1958. He was also a member of the Fenerbahçe SK Board i ...
served as the president of Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe SK, and Yılmaz Sazak, was the president of the
Turkish Athletic Federation The Turkish Athletic Federation ( tr, Türkiye Atletizm Federasyonu, ) is the governing body for athletics in Turkey. External links TAF official site {{National Members of the European Athletic Association Turkey Athletic Federation ...
. Sazak completed his primary and secondary education in Ankara. His family had extensive agricultural land at Sazak village in the
Mihalıççık Mihalıççık, also Mihalıçcık (English: Micalizo, sometimes Mihaliccik), is a town and district of Eskişehir Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türki ...
district of EskiÅŸehir Province. Because of this land Sazak went in 1951 to the United States to study at the
California State Polytechnic University College of Agriculture The Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture is the college of agriculture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) located in Pomona Pomona may refer to: Places Argentina * Pomona, Río Negro Australia * Pomona, ...
. After eight years, he returned home, and worked on a construction business and the family farm. Sazak achieved a significant increase in agricultural production by applying modern techniques. He was married to Nilgün and they had a son named
Süleyman Servet Sazak Suleyman or Süleyman is a variant of Suleiman (the Arabic name ). It means "man of peace". Notable people with the name include: Suleyman * Suleyman I of Rûm or Suleiman ibn Qutulmish (d. 1086), founder of an independent Seljuq Turkish state i ...
in 1955. He later became a member of parliament from Eskişehir. The Sazaks also had two daughters, Mahmure Gülgün Sazak, and Ayşe Bilgün Sazak. Ayşe Bilgün married textile businessman Cem Boyner.


Politician career

In 1971, Gün Sazak entered politics representing the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Sazak was elected to the post deputy chairman of the MHP in 1972 following a traffic accident which killed the previous holder of the post. At the 1977 general election, Sazak unsuccessfully ran for an Eskişehir Province seat in the parliament, representing the MHP. During the formation of the 41st government (the so-called Second Nationalist Front coalition cabinet) of
Süleyman Demirel Süleyman Sami Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously served as the ...
, Sazak was appointed Minister of Customs and Monopolies despite not being member of the parliament. He served as government minister 21 July 1977 until 5 January 1978. During his term he successfully fought corruption, smuggling and customs fraud. Sazak reduced arms trafficking conducted by organized crime and terrorism and imported cigarette smuggling. Customs corruption was said to be restored after he left the post. Abdi İpekçi (1929–1979), the later-assassinated editor-in-chief of the daily ''
Milliyet ''Milliyet'' ( Turkish for "''nationality''") is a Turkish daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey. History and profile ''Milliyet'' came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 ...
'', who opposed Sazak's politically, had praised Sazak in a column on 12 October 1978 for his achievement in re-establishing law and order at the customs. Another political opponent CHP stated during the 1978 budget debates that Sazak is the only person, who had stopped the "robbery" at the customs since the foundation of the Republic. Gün Sazak was also the chairman of the executive board at the daily ''Hergün''.


Assassination

Gün Sazak's official police guard was removed by an order of the martial law commander in Ankara. This was despite the risk to Sazak during a period of political unrest. On 27 May 1980, Gün Sazak was assassinated in front of his house by members of the
Marxist–Leninist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialect ...
terrorist group Revolutionary Left ( tr, Devrimci Sol), shortly ''Dev Sol''. The terrorists, who were later identified as Mehmet Edip Eranıl, Ahmet Levent Babacan, Sadık Zafer Özcan and Cengiz Gül arrived at Sazak's house around 19:00 hours and they then waited for Sazak's arrival. Gül shot and severely wounded Gün Sazak in his back as he arrived home around midnight. Sazak had got out of his car and he was trying to take his belongings out of the car's boot. Sazak died on his way to the hospital. It was later said that a passing minibus had hindered Babacan's shooting. The perpetrators left on foot and later caught a taxi.


Aftermath

After the assassination, Gül and Babacan delivered their handguns to 17-year-old Cem Öz, another member of Dev Sol. Instructed by Gül, Özcan phoned the newspapers ''
Milliyet ''Milliyet'' ( Turkish for "''nationality''") is a Turkish daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey. History and profile ''Milliyet'' came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 ...
'' and ''
Tercüman ''Tercüman: Halka ve Olaylara'' was a Turkish daily newspaper. It was founded in 1955 by Kemal Ilıcak (1932–1993), and associated with the center-right. The newspaper closed after Ilıcak's death, and the name was acquired by the Çukur ...
'' and gave notice of Dev Sol's responsibility for the assassination. Two days after the assassination, MHP supporters were said to have spread propaganda about Sazak's death. Alevis in Çorum were attacked and there was a call to attack both Alevis and any left wing activists. The military restored order after 48 people were said to have died and numerous people had their faces mutilated. In July 1980, Dev Sol claimed responsibility for the assassination in its illegal journal ''Devrimci Sol''. The capture of the assailants took time. The fugitives Eranıl, who was the organization's Ankara office chief, Kemal Cemal Altun, a co-planner of the assassination, and Gül fled abroad after the military coup on 12 September 1980. Gül crossed the border to Greece first, and then went to Frankfurt, Germany. Sadık Zafer Özcan was apprehended on 2 March, Ahmet Levent Babacan on 7 March and Cem Öz on 15 March 1981. Ten months after the assassination, Babacan, Özcan and Öz, were apprehended. On 6 April 1983, the 2nd Military Court of the Martial Law Command in Ankara sentenced Babacan to life imprisonment, Öz to five years aggravated imprisonment, and Özcan to six years aggravated imprisonment. Eranıl, who was considered the mastermind behind the assassination hijacked a plane with three other accomplices. The Turkish Airlines airplane was on a domestic flight from Istanbul to Ankara and it was commanded to go to Burgas in Bulgaria on 24 May 1981. The hijackers asked for the release of nearly 50 prisoners in Turkey and half a million dollars. They were overpowered by their hostages and were arrested by the Bulgarian police. However, it was not revealed whether Eranıl was extradited to Turkey or not. Eranıl was reported to be running a café in Duisburg, Germany in 2008. Altun was arrested in Germany on 5 July 1982 in connection with the assassination of former Turkish prime minister Nihat Erim. However Altun committed suicide by jumping from the sixth floor of the courthouse in West Berlin, Germany on 30 August 1983 to prevent his extradition to Turkey. In January 2013, a report of the National Intelligence Organization of Turkey (MİT) revealed that the assassination of Gün Sazak was instructed by
Dursun Karataş Dursun Karataş (25 March 1952 — 11 August 2008) was a Turkish communist of Kurdish descent. He commanded the revolutionary left and DHKP-C. DHKP-C is seen as a "terrorist organization" in Turkey, the EU and the USA. The revolutionary left was c ...
(1952–2008), the leader of Dev Sol.


Legacy

A boulevard in
Karşıyaka Karşıyaka () is a district of İzmir Province in Turkey. The district extends for twelve kilometres along the northern and eastern coastline of the tip of the Gulf of İzmir. Its centre is at a distance of to the north from the traditional cen ...
district of Ä°zmir and streets in UÅŸak and in
Keçiören Keçiören is a metropolitan district of Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, a crowded district in the northern part of the city of Ankara. According to 2010 census, population of the district center is 817,262 The district ...
, Ankara are named after him. A secondary boarding school in his family's hometown in Mihaliççık, Eskişehir bears his name.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sazak, Gun Political violence in Turkey 1932 births Politicians from Ankara California State Polytechnic University, Pomona alumni Nationalist Movement Party politicians Deputies of EskiÅŸehir 1980 deaths Assassinated Turkish politicians Deaths by firearm in Turkey Turkish nationalists Ministers of Customs and Trade of Turkey