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Sadun Aren (19 March 1922 – 8 March 2008) was a Turkish academic and politician. He was one of the cofounders of Workers' Party of Turkey and of the leading figures of socialist movement in Turkey.


Early life and education

Aren was born on 19 March 1922 in
Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. The city uses t ...
. His father was a civil servant, and his mother was a housewife who died when Sadun Aren was a child. Due to his father's frequent appointments he completed his primary and secondary education in different cities, including Eskişehir, Ankara and Istanbul. He graduated from
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 ...
's Faculty of Political Science in 1944. He held a PhD which he received from the same university.


Career and arrests

Following the completion of his PhD studies Aren began to work at the Faculty of Political Science, Ankara University, as an associate professor and taught courses in sociology. In 1951 he was sent to
Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...
to work at the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
' European Economic Commission. However, he resigned from the office and began to work at BBC's Turkish section. He returned to Turkey in 1956, but was arrested for a short time due to his communist activities. He became full professor in 1957 at the Faculty of Political Science, Ankara University. Following the
military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
on 27 May 1960 Aren was appointed to the economic committee of the military government. In 1961 he involved in the establishment of the Workers' Party of Turkey and became the head of Ankara branch of the party in 1962. Aren won a seat in the
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. ...
for the party representing Istanbul in 1965. Within the party Aren and Behice Boran formed an alliance. They both resigned from the party in 1968 due to his opposition against the views of Mehmet Ali Aybar who headed the Workers' Party. Aybar did not support the
invasion of Czechoslovakia The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...
by the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
in August 1968 and argued that a non-authoritarian and democratic version of socialism was needed in Turkey. Immediately after the
military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
on 12 March 1971 Aren was arrested and imprisoned for three years in Niğde. He was not allowed to continue his academic work at the university and began to work as an advisor to a trade union, DİSK. He was also imprisoned one year after the
military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
on 12 September 1980 and released in 1984. Aren founded a political party, Socialist Unity Party, in 1991. Following the dissolution of the party he joined Freedom and Solidarity Party and was made the party's honorary chair.


Personal life and death

Aren married to Munise Hanım on 25 October 1949 with whom he had two children, a daughter and a son. He died in Ankara on 8 March 2008 and buried there on 10 March.


Works and views

Aren is the writer of several books. He published several articles in the newspapers and magazines, including '' Yön'', ''Emek'', ''Marksizm ve Gelecek'' and ''Politika''. When Aren was a member of the Workers' Party he claimed that the focus should not be exclusively on the theory. He also argued that the clash between
socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
and
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...
should be nonviolent due to the changing nature of the economy and that discussions which led to polemics were not useful. Although Aren also did not support the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovia like Mehmet Ali Aybar, he was an ardent critic of Aybar's conceptualization of democratic socialism. Aren considered statism as an ideological tool to mobilize the masses.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aren, Sadun 20th-century scholars 20th-century Turkish politicians 21st-century Turkish politicians 1922 births 2008 deaths Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences alumni Ankara University faculty Deputies of Istanbul Turkish communists Turkish political party founders Turkish political scientists Turkish prisoners and detainees Turkish social scientists Workers' Party of Turkey politicians 20th-century political scientists