Mehmet Ali Aybar (; 5 October 1908 – 10 July 1995) was a lawyer, member of the Turkish parliament, the second president of the Workers Party of Turkey ( or briefly ''TİP''), the founder and President of the Socialist Revolution Party, and a member of the

Russell Tribunal The Russell Tribunal, also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal, Russell–Sartre Tribunal, or Stockholm Tribunal, was a private people's tribunal organised in 1966 by Bertrand Russell, British philosopher and Nobel Prize winner, and ...

against the war crimes of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in Vietnam. He is known as one of the most prominent proponents of

democratic socialism Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic ideology, economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and wor ...

in Turkish political history.

Biography

Mehmet Ali Aybar was born in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

in 1908. He was a great-grandson of the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n-born Ottoman general Mehmed Ali Pasha, and thus a relative of Turkish poets

Nâzım Hikmet Mehmed Nâzım Ran (17 January 1902 – 3 June 1963), Note: 403 Forbidden error received 10 October 2022. commonly known as Nâzım Hikmet (), was a Turkish people, Turkish poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director, and memoirist. ...

and Oktay Rıfat Horozcu, as well as the statesman Ali Fuat Cebesoy. Aybar's father was Tahsin Bey, who was the son of Hüseyin Hüsnü Pasha, first commander of the Action Army. Another ancestor of his is Gelenbevi Ismail Efendi. He studied at

Galatasaray High School Galatasaray High School (, ), established in Istanbul in 1481, is the oldest and Selective school, highly selective high school in Turkey. It is also the second-oldest Turkish educational institution after Istanbul University, which was establi ...

, and graduated from

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

's School of Law.Landau (1974), p. 124 He then moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to continue his legal studies. It was in Paris that he was exposed to

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

literature. Upon returning to Istanbul he became assistant professor of international law at the same Law School he graduated from. His academic career was hampered by his communist leanings, and he was eventually expelled from the university in 1946. His writings for the Istanbul magazine ''Hür'' (Free) engendered anger on the part of the government and he was briefly imprisoned. In 1950, Aybar was pardoned and began practicing law in Istanbul. He continued his activist writings and began participating in protests against the government, leading to his second arrest. After his release from prison in 1962, he became the first leader of the Workers' Party of Turkey.Landau (1974), p. 125 It was only after he ascended to party leadership that intellectuals began to take the party seriously. Aybar's credibility drew academics to the party As the leader of the party, he and his associates were responsible for the direction and success of the party. One of the primary tenets of the party was to resist Turkey's subservience to American influence. Aybar personally opposed the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia and this caused disputes in the party. In 1971 he resigned from TİP as a result of his ideological split with party leadership over the

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

issue. In 1975 he founded Socialist Party (later called Socialist Revolution Party). This party was closed by the military coup in 1980. Aybar was also a member of the International War Crimes Tribunal which was founded by

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

. Mehmet Ali Aybar died on 10 July 1995 in İstanbul.

Olympics

He participated in the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

as track and field athlete for Turkey. He was eliminated in the first round of the 100 metres event. He was also a member of the Turkish team which was eliminated in the first round of the 4×100 metre relay competition.

Notes

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aybar, Mehmet Ali 1908 births 1995 deaths Politicians from Istanbul People from Constantinople vilayet Workers' Party of Turkey politicians Deputies of Istanbul Leaders of political parties in Turkey Sportspeople from Istanbul Galatasaray athletes Olympic athletes for Turkey Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics Galatasaray High School alumni Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni Recipients of Turkish presidential pardons Turkish Marxists Turkish male sprinters Turkish sportsperson-politicians Burials at Aşiyan Asri Cemetery 20th-century Turkish lawyers 20th-century Turkish sportsmen