Ahmet Necdet Sezer
10th President of the Republic of Turkey
In office 16 May 2000 â€" 28 August 2007
Prime Minister	Bülent Ecevit, Abdullah Gül and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Preceded by	Süleyman Demirel
Succeeded by	Abdullah Gül
Born	September 13, 1941 (1941-09-13) (age 66) Afyonkarahisar, Turkey
Spouse	Semra Sezer

Ahmet Necdet Sezer (born September 13, 1941 in Afyonkarahisar) is the tenth President of the Republic of Turkey. The Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi (the Grand National Assembly of Turkey) elected Sezer in 2000 after Süleyman Demirel's seven year term expired. He is succeeded by Abdullah Gül.

Early life

After finishing Afyonkarahisar High School in 1958, he graduated from the Ankara University Faculty of Law in 1962 and began his career as a judge in Ankara. Following his military service at the Military Academy, he served first as a judge in Dicle and Yerköy, and later as a supervisory judge in the High Court of Appeals in Ankara. In 1978 he received LL.M. in civil law from the Faculty of Law in Ankara University .

Chief justice

On 7 March 1983, he was elected as a member to the High Court of Appeals. As he was a member in the Second Chamber of Law, Sezer was recommended to the president by the plenary assembly of the High Court of Appeals among the three candidates for appointment as member of the Constitutional Court. On 27 September 1988, he was appointed by the president as member of the Constitutional Court. On 6 January 1998, Ahmet Necdet Sezer was elected chief justice of the Constitutional Court.

Presidency (2000 - 2007)

He was elected president in May 2000, becoming Turkey's first head of state to come from a judicial background. He was sworn in on May 16, 2000. His term was to expire on May 16, 2007, but because the Grand National Assembly of Turkey failed to elect a new president, he retained the Office as pro tempore until August 28, 2007 (the Constitution of Turkey states that a President's term of office is extended until a successor is elected).

On February 21, 2001, during a quarrel in a National Security Council meeting, he threw the constitutional code book to then prime minister Bülent Ecevit. According to some circles, this action was the main reason of the "Black Wednesday", a big economic crisis. On the other hand, many people claimed that the rapid reforms for the accession negotiations with the EU and the strong ties with IMF caused the "Black Wednesday".[1]

During his 7-year presidency term, he was a firm defender of secularist principles of the Republic of Turkey. Thus he did not see eye to eye with the ruling AKP on many issues. He openly stated, on many occasions, that the secular regime in Turkey was under threat but never gave any specific reasons[2]. He believes that Islam doesn't require women to wear headscarf, and women that do wear them only wear them for political reasons. Because of this reason, he excluded Lawmakers' wives (with headscarves) from the invitation list for official receptions at President's Palace[3].

During his presidency he has pardoned 260 convicted felons, 202 of whom were captured leftist militants [4] [5] [6], using the legal power to pardon any convicted felons by his will. This type of pardon can be requested directly by the felon or the legal representative of the felon, but no political or court referral is necessary. While some organizations use this fact to criticize Sezer's presidency, they are generally not taking into account what Sezer had done to support the war on terrorism. One of his latest moves about the case was accepting the new harsh laws to punish the people who are connected to the terrorism[7].

Personal life

He is married to Semra Sezer and has three children. Known as a gentleman, a considerable number of the Turkish citizens like him because he acts like an ordinary citizen. For example, he is seen often shopping with local people in Ankara markets. Although his monthly electricity bill was paid by the state, he elected to pay that for the month that his son's wedding took place in his official residence in Çankaya[8]. He also ordered his drivers to not seek preferential treatment for him and wait in the red traffic lights instead. Finally, he returned half of his salary back to the Treasury.[9]

References

External links

• BBC Profile
• Presidency of the Republic of Turkey

v · d · ePresidents of the Constitutional Court of Turkey
Sünuhi Arsan · Lütfi Akadlı · İbrahim Senil · Hakkı Ketenoğlu · Muhittin Taylan · Kani Vrana · Şevket Müftügil · Ahmet Hamdi Boyacıoğlu · Semih Özmert · Orhan Onar · Mahmut Cuhruk · Necdet Darıcıoğlu · Yekta Güngör Özden · Ahmet Necdet Sezer · Mustafa Bumin · Tülay Tuğcu · Haşim Kılıç

v · d · ePresidents of the Republic of Turkey
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk · İsmet İnönü · Celal Bayar · Cemal Gürsel · Cevdet Sunay · Fahri Korutürk · Kenan Evren · Turgut Özal · Süleyman Demirel · Ahmet Necdet Sezer · Abdullah Gül