The prime minister of Turkey, officially the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey (), was the

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

of the

Republic of Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the Turkish Parliament and presided over the cabinet. Throughout the political history of Turkey, functions and powers of the post have changed occasionally. Prior to its dissolution as a result of the 2017 Constitutional Referendum, the holder of the premiership was generally the dominant figure in Turkish politics, outweighing the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Premiership in the Ottoman Era

In the Ottoman Empire, the prime minister of the

Ottoman sultan The sultans of the Ottoman Empire (), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to Dissolution of the Ottoman Em ...

held the title of

Grand Vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

(), though in the 19th century, some heads of government were appointed with the title Prime Minister, (). Starting in the 1830s, Grand Viziers began to minister cabinets. After the

Tanzimat The (, , lit. 'Reorganization') was a period of liberal reforms in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Edict of Gülhane of 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Driven by reformist statesmen such as Mustafa Reşid Pash ...

period in the 19th century, the grand viziers came to assume a role more like that of the

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

s of contemporary Western European monarchies. Later, with the Ottoman constitution of 1876, a

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 ...

was established to oversee the grand vizier. With the constitutional amendments that took place during the

Second Constitutional Era The Second Constitutional Era (; ) was the period of restored parliamentary rule in the Ottoman Empire between the 1908 Young Turk Revolution and the 1920 retraction of the constitution, after the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, during the ...

, the grand vizier was made answerable to the parliament rather than the sultan.

Premiership in the Government of the Grand National Assembly

After the establishment of the Grand National Assembly in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

by the

Turkish National Movement The Turkish National Movement (), also known as the Anatolian Movement (), the Nationalist Movement (), and the Kemalists (, ''Kemalciler'' or ''Kemalistler''), included political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries that resu ...

, the 1st Parliament instituted a new government called "The Cabinet of the Executive Ministers" (Turkish: ''İcra Vekilleri Heyeti).'' The post was then held by the Speaker of the Parliament, who presided over the cabinet ''ex-officio''.

Premiership in the Republic

One-party period (1923–1945) Following the declaration of the republic, the existing constitution of 1921 was amended, conferring the executive authority and the privilege to oversee governmental affairs to the prime minister, who was to be appointed by the president of the republic. Although the Presidency was established as a symbolic office with the president being unaccountable for his actions, Presidents Atatürk and İnönü had exercised executive authority as the leader of their

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

during the one-party period. Multi-party period (1945–2018) Prior to the general election held in 1950, the constitution was amended, disallowing the president-elect to remain the leader of their political party. These amendments resulted in the prime minister becoming the dominant figure in Turkish politics, sharply diminishing the role of the president. After Prime Minister Adnan Menderes was ousted from power as a result of the 1960 Turkish coup d'état, the newly promulgated Constitution of 1961 reduced the powers of the government considerably, strengthening parliamentary supervision over the cabinet. These features of the constitution resulted in a fractured political system, causing many short-lived coalition governments to be formed until 1980. In the aftermath of the

1980 Turkish coup d'état The 1980 Turkish coup d'état (), headed by Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren, was the third coup d'état in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the previous having been the 1960 coup and the 1971 coup by memorandum. During ...

, the Constitution of 1982 (still in use) was implemented. Even though the Constitution of 1982 was quite similar to its predecessor, there were new measures taken to avoid the formation of short-lived coalition governments. These measures included the introduction of 10% electoral threshold, unicameral parliamentary structure, and enforced executive powers. Along with broad executive powers being vested in the post of the prime minister, the realm of authority of the cabinet ministries (with the exclusion of the prime ministry) was drastically reduced, placing the ministers under the direct supervision of the prime minister. Later on, numerous amendments were made on the constitution, with the ones of paramount importance being the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, and

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

. Some of the changes approved by public vote were highly controversial. According to some, the direct election of the president for the first time in 2014 resulted in a de facto transition into a

semi-presidential system A semi-presidential republic, or dual executive republic, is a republic in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of the state. It differs from a parliament ...

, bringing an end to the prime minister's dominant authority in Turkish politics. Following the general elections in 2018, constitutional amendments approved in the 2017 referendum officially took effect, marking the end of 98 years of parliamentary governance in Turkey.

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1920 till:09/07/2018 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1920 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:2 start:1920 Colors = id:ind value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8) BarData = bar:Atatürk bar:Çakmak bar:Orbay bar:Okyar bar:İnönü bar:Bayar bar:Saydam bar:Saracoğlu bar:Peker bar:Saka bar:Günaltay bar:Menderes bar:Gürsel bar:Ürgüplü bar:Demirel bar:Erim bar:Melen bar:Talu bar:Ecevit bar:Irmak bar:Feyzioğlu bar:Ulusu bar:Özal bar:Akbulut bar:Yılmaz bar:Çiller bar:Erbakan bar:Gül bar:Erdoğan bar:Davutoğlu bar:Yıldırım PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till bar:Atatürk from: 03/05/1920 till: 24/01/1921 color:red text:" Atatürk" fontsize:10 bar:Çakmak from: 24/01/1921 till: 09/06/1922 color:red text:" Çakmak" fontsize:10 bar:Orbay from: 12/06/1922 till: 04/08/1923 color:red text:" Orbay" fontsize:10 bar:Okyar from: 14/08/1923 till: 27/10/1923 color:red from: 21/11/1924 till: 06/03/1925 color:red text:" Okyar" fontsize:10 bar:İnönü from: 01/11/1923 till: 21/11/1924 color:red from: 06/03/1925 till: 27/09/1937 color:red from: 20/11/1961 till: 20/02/1965 color:red text:" İnönü" fontsize:10 bar:Bayar from: 27/09/1937 till: 25/01/1939 color:red text:" Bayar" fontsize:10 bar:Saydam from: 25/01/1939 till: 09/07/1942 color:red text:" Saydam" fontsize:10 bar:Saracoğlu from: 09/07/1942 till: 07/08/1946 color:red text:" Saracoğlu" fontsize:10 bar:Peker from: 07/08/1946 till: 09/09/1947 color:red text:" Peker" fontsize:10 bar:Saka from: 10/09/1947 till: 16/01/1949 color:red text:"

Saka The Saka, Old Chinese, old , Pinyin, mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit (Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples, Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian ...

" fontsize:10 bar:Günaltay from: 16/01/1949 till: 22/05/1950 color:red text:" Günaltay" fontsize:10 bar:Menderes from: 22/05/1950 till: 27/05/1960 color:blue text:" Menderes" fontsize:10 bar:Gürsel from: 28/05/1960 till: 05/01/1961 color:ind text:" Gürsel" fontsize:10 bar:Ürgüplü from: 20/02/1965 till: 27/10/1965 color:ind text:" Ürgüplü" fontsize:10 bar:Demirel from: 27/10/1965 till: 26/03/1971 color:green from: 31/03/1975 till: 21/06/1977 color:green from: 21/07/1977 till: 05/01/1978 color:green from: 12/11/1979 till: 20/09/1980 color:green from: 20/11/1991 till: 16/05/1993 color:purple text:" Demirel" fontsize:10 bar:Erim from: 26/03/1971 till: 17/04/1972 color:ind text:" Erim" fontsize:10 bar:Melen from: 17/04/1972 till: 15/04/1973 color:yellow text:" Melen" fontsize:10 bar:Talu from: 15/04/1973 till: 25/01/1974 color:ind text:" Talu" fontsize:10 bar:Ecevit from: 25/01/1974 till: 17/11/1974 color:red from: 21/06/1977 till: 21/07/1977 color:red from: 05/01/1978 till: 12/11/1979 color:red from: 11/01/1999 till: 18/11/2002 color:red text:" Ecevit" fontsize:10 bar:Irmak from: 17/11/1974 till: 31/03/1975 color:ind text:" Irmak" fontsize:10 bar:Feyzioğlu from: 12/09/1980 till: 12/09/1980 color:orange text: " Feyzioğlu" fontsize:10 bar:Ulusu from: 20/09/1980 till: 13/12/1983 color:ind text:" Ulusu" fontsize:10 bar:Özal from: 13/12/1983 till: 31/10/1989 color:yellow text:" Özal" fontsize:10 bar:Akbulut from: 09/11/1989 till: 23/06/1991 color:yellow text:" Akbulut" fontsize:10 bar:Yılmaz from: 23/06/1991 till: 20/11/1991 color:yellow from: 06/03/1996 till: 28/06/1996 color:yellow from: 30/06/1997 till: 11/01/1999 color:yellow text:"

Yılmaz Yılmaz () is a Turkish language, Turkish word that translates to “unyielding”, "unbeatable", or "brave", and is a common surname and occasional male given name. Its cognates are Almas (disambiguation) and Almaz (disambiguation). Given name * ...

" fontsize:10 bar:Çiller from: 25/06/1993 till: 06/03/1996 color:purple text:" Çiller" fontsize:10 bar:Erbakan from: 28/06/1996 till: 30/06/1997 color:orange text:" Erbakan" fontsize:10 bar:Gül from: 18/11/2002 till: 14/03/2003 color:orange text:" Gül" fontsize:10 bar:Erdoğan from: 14/03/2003 till: 28/08/2014 color:orange text:" Erdoğan" fontsize:10 bar:Davutoğlu from: 28/08/2014 till: 24/05/2016 color:orange text:" Davutoğlu" fontsize:10 bar:Yıldırım from: 24/05/2016 till: 09/07/2018 color:orange text:"

Yıldırım Yıldırım is a Turkish word meaning "lightning" and may refer to: People Given name *Ali Yıldırım Koç (born 1967), Turkish businessman and member of the Koç family *Yıldırım Akbulut (1935–2021), Turkish politician *Yıldırım Aktun ...

" fontsize:10

References

External links