Mustafa Timisi (born 1 May 1936,

Divriği Divriği (formerly Tephrike, Greek: Τεφρική) is a small town and district of Sivas Province of Turkey. The town lies on gentle slope on the south bank of the Çaltısuyu river, a tributary of the Karasu river. The Great Mosque and Hospita ...

Sivas Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is ...

) was a Turkish

Alevi Alevism or Anatolian Alevism (; tr, Alevilik, ''Anadolu Aleviliği'' or ''Kızılbaşlık''; ; az, Ələvilik) is a local Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Alevi Islamic ( ''bāṭenī'') teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, ...

politician, a leader of the Unity Party.

Early life and political activism

Mustafa Timisi political career began probably with his opposition towards the inclusion of the Alevis in the so-called Circle of Islam by the Government of prime minister

Ismet Inönü Ismet ( tr, İsmet) is a Turkish form of the Arabic name Ismet. Along with Turkish, the name is also seen in Albanian, Bosnian, and Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may ...

. Timisi and other students of Alevi origin at the

Ankara University Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The university has 40 vo ...

, organized themselves in 1963. They directed themselves to the press and Timisi read out a statement declaring that the Alevis supported

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and the founding father of the Rep ...

and the National Struggle. The statement was viewed as a positive step by the Turkish president

Cemal Gürsel Cemal Gürsel (; 13 October 1895 – 14 September 1966) was a Turkish army general who became the fourth President of Turkey after a coup. Early life He was born in the city of Erzurum as the son of an Ottoman Army officer, Abidin Bey, an ...

, who invited members of the Alevi university students of which several later became active politicians to a meeting with him. But the Republican People's Party (CHP) approach to the Alevis was ambiguous and during the government of

Süleyman Demirel Süleyman Sami Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously served as the Prime Minister of Turkey seven times between ...

, İbrahim Elmalı, the president of the

Directorate of Religious Affairs The Directorate of Religious Affairs in Turkey ( tr, Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, normally referred to simply as the Diyanet) is an official state institution established in 1924 by the orders of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk under article 136 of t ...

at the time stated, “There is no such thing as Alevis,” which caused a strong opposition from the Alevis towards the Turkish Government.

Political career

In 1966, the Unity Party was established by left-leaning Alevi politicians. During a general assembly held after the elections of 1969, Timisi was appointed as president of the party as the successor of Huseyin Balan. After the military coup of 12 March 1971, Timisi secured a seat in parliament for the Unity Party. During his tenure as a deputy of

Turkish Grand National Assembly 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 ...

he was opposed to the hanging of

Deniz Gezmiş Deniz Gezmiş (27 February 1947 – 6 May 1972) was a Turkish Marxist-Leninist revolutionary, student leader, and political activist in Turkey in the late 1960s. He was one of the founding members of the People's Liberation Army of Turkey (TH ...

and his accomplices and also directed a letter to

Cevdet Sunay Cevdet Sunay (; 10 February 1899 – 22 May 1982) was a Turkish politician and army officer, who served as the fifth President of Turkey from 1966 to 1973. Early life and career Sunay was born in 1899 in Trabzon, in the Ottoman Empire. Af ...

, the president at the time, demanding their amnesty. Timisi and the Unity Party continued to be active in politics until the military coup in1980 during which the party was banned and he was shortly imprisoned in Istanbul together with

Behice Boran Behice Boran (1 May 1910 – 10 October 1987) was a Turkish Marxist politician, author and sociologist. As a dissenting political voice from the left, Boran was repeatedly imprisoned for her work and died in exile after the Turkish military co ...

. Following the coup, he was involved in several political parties such as the

Social Democracy Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SODEP) or the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) which later merged into the new CHP.

İş Bank

In 1995, Timisi resigned from an active political career and began working for İş Bank as a member of the board of directors. He was replaced in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Timisi, Mustafa Turkish politicians 1936 births Living people Ankara University alumni