Necdet Calp (September 7, 1922 – September 13, 1998) was a Turkish civil servant and politician.

Early life

He was born in Karamürsel

ilçe The 81 provinces of Turkey are divided into 973 districts (''ilçeler''; sing. ''ilçe''). In the early Turkish Republic and in the Ottoman Empire, the corresponding unit was the ''kaza''. Most provinces bear the same name as their respectiv ...

of Kocaeli Province, Turkey on 7 September 1922. He graduated from the Faculty of Political Science of

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 ...

in 1944. He also studied at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

. He served as district governor, inspector in the

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

as well as province governor of Siirt and

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...

. He also served as executive assistant to

İsmet İnönü Mustafa İsmet İnönü (; 24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish army officer and statesman of Kurdish descent, who served as the second President of Turkey from 11 November 1938 to 22 May 1950, and its Prime Minister three ti ...

, then prime minister of Turkey. During the military rule between 1980 and 1983, he was the undersecretary of the prime minister Bülent Ulusu.

Leader of the opposition

On 21 May 1983 together with Avni Güler, Engin Aydın and Turhan Timuçin, he founded People's Party ( tr, Halkçı Parti, HP) in the course of Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP), which was closed by the military rule. He was elected as the chairman of the party. After the main rival SODEP was banned from entering the election, the HP became the only party attractive for ex-CHP voters. Although he was not a well known name, he caused a nationwide excitement in a panel discussion on TV by his reaction to the proposal of privatization of İstanbul Bosphorus Bridge. In the election held on 6 November 1983, the HP received 30.5% of the votes and Necdet Calp, now PM from

Ankara Province Ankara Province ( tr, , ) is a province of Turkey with the capital city Ankara. Demographics History The site of the modern city has been home to settlements by many historic Anatolian civilizations in antiquity and classical times, in ...

, became the opposition leader.

The congress

In the local elections held on 21 March 1984, in which SODEP also competed, the HP received 8.8%, which meant a loss of nearly 75% of its votes in less than five months. After learning the results, Calp resigned, but he was soon reelected as the chairman. However, during the reelection period, the opposition group in the party gained strength.Erdal İnönü:Anılar ve Düşünceler, Cilt III, Doğan Kitap, İstanbul, 2001, p.24 On the general congress of the party held on 29 June 1985, he lost his chair to Aydın Güven Gürkan.

Later years

After 1985, he did not participate in politics, and in the

1987 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1987. Africa * 1987 Central African Republic parliamentary election * 1987 Comorian legislative election * 1987 Djiboutian general election * 1987 Ethiopian general election * 1987 Gambian general ele ...

, he did not run for a seat in the parliament. On 13 September 1998, he died in Ankara as a result of a heart attack.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calp, Necdet 1922 births 1998 deaths People from Karamürsel Populist Party (Turkey) politicians Leaders of the Opposition (Turkey) Leaders of political parties in Turkey Deputies of Ankara Governors (Turkey) Turkish civil servants Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics Turkish political party founders