Ali Topuz (1932–2019) was a Turkish architect and social democratic politician who held several cabinet posts in the late 1970s. He was member of the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

(CHP) and served at the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Early life and education

Topuz was born in

Çayeli Çayeli () is a town in Rize Province on the Black Sea coast of eastern Turkey, 18 km east of the city of Rize. It is the seat of Çayeli District.

Rize Rize (; ; ; ka, რიზე}; ) is a coastal city in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Rize Province and Rize District.Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University, also known as Technical University of Istanbul (, commonly referred to as İTÜ), is an public university, public technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third-oldest technical university ...

Career and activities

Following his graduation Topuz worked at various institutions as an architect, including Istanbul Municipality, and also as a freelance architect. He was a member of the central executive committee and vice president of the Chamber of Architects between 1969 and 1971. Topuz became a member of the CHP and headed a faction consisted of those party members from the Black Sea region. The group included

Aytekin Kotil Aytekin Kotil (1934–1992) was a Turkish social democratic politician. He was the mayor of Istanbul being a pioneer in the municipal socialism in Turkey. He was also a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Turkish Parliament. Early l ...

Necdet Uğur Necdet Uğur (full name Mustafa Necdet Uğur; 1 January 1923 – 27 September 2004) was a Turkish politician in Turkey. Early life and education He was born in 1923 in Mecitözü in Çorum Province. In 1944 he graduated from the Faculty of Polit ...

Orhan Eyüpoğlu Orhan Eyüpoğlu (1918 – 30 November 1980) was a Turkish politician. A graduate of Istanbul University's Faculty of Law, he was deputy director of the Istanbul Police force. In 1973 he was elected as the secretary general of the Republican Peo ...

Tarhan Erdem Tarhan Erdem (1933 – 8 June 2022) was a Turkish politician who was the President of KONDA Research and Consultancy, an opinion polling company. He was a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and briefly served as the Minister of Indus ...

and other leading figures who were the earliest supporter of

Bülent Ecevit Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in 197 ...

against

İsmet İnönü Mustafa İsmet İnönü (24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish politician and military officer who served as the second List of Presidents of Turkey, president of Turkey from 1938 to 1950, and as its Prime Minister of Turkey, pr ...

in the election of the CHP chairmanship in 1972. Topuz and Kotil were ardent followers of Bülent Ecevit's '' left of center movement''. Topuz served as the head of CHP's Istanbul branch until 1973 when he was elected as a deputy. He was re-elected as a deputy from Istanbul in the 1977 general election. Topuz was appointed minister of village affairs and cooperatives to 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 ...

led by Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit on 21 June 1977. However, his tenure was very brief and ended on 27 July. Because the cabinet could not get a

vote of confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fit ...

at the Parliament on 3 July. Topuz was again named as the minister of village affairs and cooperatives on 5 January 1978 serving in the next

of Ecevit until 1979. His political activity temporarily ended due to the

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

in 1980. Topuz was elected to the Parliament in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

in 1987 from the

Social Democratic Populist Party The Social Democratic Populist Party or Social Democratic Popular Party (, abbreviated SHP) was a political party in Turkey that formed after the fusion of the Social Democracy Party (''Sosyal Demokrasi Partisi'', SODEP) of Erdal İnönü and th ...

. Topuz and Aytekin Kotil supported the leadership of

Deniz Baykal Deniz Baykal (20 July 1938 – 11 February 2023) was a Turkish politician. A member of the Republican People's Party (CHP) who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 1996. Having served in numerous governmen ...

against

Erdal İnönü Erdal İnönü (6 June 1926 – 31 October 2007) was a Turkish theoretical physicist and politician who served as the interim prime minister of Turkey between 16 May and 25 June 1993. He also served as the deputy prime minister of Turkey from 1 ...

in the party. Topuz joined the CHP in 1992 when it was reestablished. He was reelected as the head of CHP's Istanbul branch in 2000. Topuz was a member of the Parliament for the CHP until 2007. During his last term at the Parliament he reported that the United States had been employing the

PKK The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurdish militant political organization and armed gue ...

, a Kurdish terrorist group, against Turkey.

Personal life and death

Topuz was married and had two children. He suffered a cerebral haemorrhage in

Kyrenia Kyrenia is a city on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. It is under the '' de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. While there is evidence showing that the wider region of Kyrenia has been populated before, ...

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, island of Cyprus. It is List of states with limited recognition, recognis ...

, on 8 February 2019. He was transferred to a hospital in Istanbul and died there on 14 October 2019. He was buried in Istanbul.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Topuz, Ali 20th-century Turkish architects 1932 births 2019 deaths People from Rize Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Social Democratic Populist Party (Turkey) politicians Members of the 18th Parliament of Turkey Istanbul Technical University alumni Members of the 14th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 15th Parliament of Turkey Government ministers of Turkey Members of the 40th government of Turkey Members of the 42nd government of Turkey Members of the 20th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 22nd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 23rd Parliament of Turkey