The prime minister of the Republic of Turkey ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Başbakanı'') was the

head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a ...

of the

Republic of Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the

Turkish Parliament The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

and presided over the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

. Throughout the political history of Turkey, functions and powers of the post have changed occasionally. Prior to its dissolution as a result of the 2017 Constitutional Referendum, the prime minister was generally the dominant figure in Turkish politics, outweighing the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Premiership in the Ottoman Era

In the Ottoman Empire, the prime minister of the

Ottoman sultan The sultans of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı padişahları), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. At its hei ...

held the title of

Grand Vizier Grand vizier ( fa, وزيرِ اعظم, vazîr-i aʾzam; ota, صدر اعظم, sadr-ı aʾzam; tr, sadrazam) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. The office of Grand Vizier was first ...

( tr, Sadrazam). After the

Tanzimat The Tanzimat (; ota, تنظيمات, translit=Tanzimāt, lit=Reorganization, ''see'' nizām) was a period of reform in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 187 ...

period in the 19th century, the grand viziers came to assume a role more like that of the

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

s of contemporary Western European monarchies. Later, with the Ottoman constitution of 1876, a

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

was established to oversee the prime minister, and the prime minister formed a cabinet. With the constitutional amendments that took place during the

Second Constitutional Era The Second Constitutional Era ( ota, ایكنجی مشروطیت دورى; tr, İkinci Meşrutiyet Devri) was the period of restored parliamentary rule in the Ottoman Empire between the 1908 Young Turk Revolution and the 1920 dissolution of the ...

, the prime minister was made answerable to the parliament rather than the sultan.

Premiership in the Government of the Grand National Assembly

After the establishment of the Grand National Assembly in Ankara by the

Turkish National Movement The Turkish National Movement ( tr, Türk Ulusal Hareketi) encompasses the political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries that resulted in the creation and shaping of the modern Republic of Turkey, as a consequence of the def ...

, the 1st Parliament instituted a new government called "The Cabinet of the Executive Ministers" (Turkish: ''İcra Vekilleri Heyeti).'' The post was then held by the Speaker of the Parliament, who presided over the cabinet ''ex-officio''.

Premiership in the Republic

One-party period (1923–1945) Following the declaration of the republic, the existing constitution of 1921 was amended, conferring the executive authority and the privilege to oversee governmental affairs to the prime minister, who was to be appointed by the president of the republic. Although the Presidency was established as a symbolic office with the president being unaccountable for his actions, Presidents Atatürk and İnönü had exercised executive authority as the leader of their

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featu ...

during the one-party period. Multi-party period (1945–2018) Prior to the general election held in 1950, the constitution was amended, disallowing the president-elect to remain the leader of their political party. These amendments resulted in the prime minister becoming the dominant figure in Turkish politics, sharply diminishing the role of the president. After Prime Minister Adnan Menderes was ousted from power as a result of the

1960 Turkish coup d'état The 1960 Turkish coup d'état ( tr, 27 Mayıs Darbesi) was the first coup d'état in the Republic of Turkey. It took place on May 27, 1960. The coup was staged by a group of 38 young Turkish military officers, acting outside the military chain ...

, the newly promulgated Constitution of 1961 reduced the powers of the government considerably, strengthening parliamentary supervision over the cabinet. These features of the constitution resulted in a fractured political system, causing many short-lived coalition governments to be formed until 1980. In the aftermath of 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 ...

, the Constitution of 1982 (still in use) was implemented. Even though the Constitution of 1982 was quite similar to its predecessor, there were new measures taken to avoid the formation of short-lived coalition governments. These measures included the introduction of 10% electoral threshold, unicameral parliamentary structure, and enforced executive powers. Along with broad executive powers being vested in the post of the prime minister, the realm of authority of the cabinet ministries (with the exclusion of the prime ministry) was drastically reduced, placing the ministers under the direct supervision of the prime minister. Later on, numerous amendments were made on the constitution, with the ones of paramount importance being the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

. Some of the changes approved by public vote were highly controversial. According to some, the direct election of the president for the first time in 2014 resulted in a de facto transition into a

semi-presidential system A semi-presidential republic, is a republic in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of the state. It differs from a parliamentary republic in that it has ...

, bringing an end to the prime minister's dominant authority in Turkish politics. Following the general elections in 2018, constitutional amendments approved in the 2017 referendum officially took effect, marking the end of 98 years of parliamentary governance in Turkey.

List of prime ministers

Living former prime ministers

Longest track records

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1920 till:09/07/2018 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1920 Colors = id:ind value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8) BarData = barset:PM PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:PM from: 03/05/1920 till: 24/01/1921 color:red text:" Atatürk" fontsize:10 from: 24/01/1921 till: 09/06/1922 color:red text:" Çakmak" fontsize:10 from: 12/06/1922 till: 04/08/1923 color:red text:" Orbay" fontsize:10 from: 14/08/1923 till: 27/10/1923 color:red text:" Okyar" fontsize:10 from: 01/11/1923 till: 21/11/1924 color:red text:" İnönü" fontsize:10 from: 21/11/1924 till: 06/03/1925 color:red text:" Okyar" fontsize:10 from: 06/03/1925 till: 27/09/1937 color:red text:" İnönü" fontsize:10 from: 27/09/1937 till: 25/01/1939 color:red text:" Bayar" fontsize:10 from: 25/01/1939 till: 09/07/1942 color:red text:" Saydam" fontsize:10 from: 09/07/1942 till: 07/08/1946 color:red text:" Saracoğlu" fontsize:10 from: 07/08/1946 till: 09/09/1947 color:red text:" Peker" fontsize:10 from: 10/09/1947 till: 16/01/1949 color:red text:"

Saka The Saka ( Old Persian: ; Kharoṣṭhī: ; Ancient Egyptian: , ; , old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who histo ...

" fontsize:10 from: 16/01/1949 till: 22/05/1950 color:red text:" Günaltay" fontsize:10 from: 22/05/1950 till: 27/05/1960 color:blue text:" Menderes" fontsize:10 from: 28/05/1960 till: 05/01/1961 color:ind text:" Gürsel" fontsize:10 from: 20/11/1961 till: 20/02/1965 color:red text:" İnönü" fontsize:10 from: 20/02/1965 till: 27/10/1965 color:ind text:" Ürgüplü" fontsize:10 from: 27/10/1965 till: 26/03/1971 color:green text:" Demirel" fontsize:10 from: 26/03/1971 till: 17/04/1972 color:ind text:" Erim" fontsize:10 from: 17/04/1972 till: 15/04/1973 color:yellow text:" Melen" fontsize:10 from: 15/04/1973 till: 25/01/1974 color:ind text:" Talu" fontsize:10 from: 25/01/1974 till: 17/11/1974 color:red text:" Ecevit" fontsize:10 from: 17/11/1974 till: 31/03/1975 color:ind text:"

Irmak Irmak is a Unisex Turkish given name. In Turkish, "Irmak" means "river". People Given name * Irmak Arkadaşlar, a Turkish contestant in the north team of Survivor: Büyük Macera. * Irmak Atuk, a Turkish model and titleholder of Best Model of ...

" fontsize:10 from: 31/03/1975 till: 21/06/1977 color:green text:" Demirel" fontsize:10 from: 21/06/1977 till: 21/07/1977 color:red text:" Ecevit" fontsize:10 from: 21/07/1977 till: 05/01/1978 color:green text:" Demirel" fontsize:10 from: 05/01/1978 till: 12/11/1979 color:red text:" Ecevit" fontsize:10 from: 12/11/1979 till: 20/09/1980 color:green text:" Demirel" fontsize:10 from: 12/09/1980 till: 12/09/1980 color:orange text: " Feyzioğlu" fontsize:10 from: 20/09/1980 till: 13/12/1983 color:ind text:" Ulusu" fontsize:10 from: 13/12/1983 till: 31/10/1989 color:yellow text:" Özal" fontsize:10 from: 09/11/1989 till: 23/06/1991 color:yellow text:" Akbulut" fontsize:10 from: 23/06/1991 till: 20/11/1991 color:yellow text:" Yılmaz" fontsize:10 from: 20/11/1991 till: 16/05/1993 color:purple text:" Demirel" fontsize:10 from: 25/06/1993 till: 06/03/1996 color:purple text:" Çiller" fontsize:10 from: 06/03/1996 till: 28/06/1996 color:yellow text:" Yılmaz" fontsize:10 from: 28/06/1996 till: 30/06/1997 color:orange text:" Erbakan" fontsize:10 from: 30/06/1997 till: 11/01/1999 color:yellow text:" Yılmaz" fontsize:10 from: 11/01/1999 till: 18/11/2002 color:red text:" Ecevit" fontsize:10 from: 18/11/2002 till: 14/03/2003 color:orange text:"

Gül Gul is a common name in Persian ( ) and Turkish () languages, meaning ''rose''. Gul is used as a family name in Europe, Central and South Asia. It is also a Nordic given name, used in Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian languages as a short fo ...

" fontsize:10 from: 14/03/2003 till: 28/08/2014 color:orange text:" Erdoğan" fontsize:10 from: 28/08/2014 till: 24/05/2016 color:orange text:" Davutoğlu" fontsize:10 from: 24/05/2016 till: 09/07/2018 color:orange text:" Yıldırım" fontsize:10

References

External links

The Prime Minister's Office
* {{Turkey topics 1920 establishments in the Ottoman Empire 2018 disestablishments in Turkey