View source for Nihat Erim

{{Short description|13th Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey from 1971 to 1972}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{More citations needed|date=July 2008}}
{{More footnotes|date=July 2008}}
}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Nihat Erim
| office              = 13th [[Prime Minister of Turkey|prime minister of Turkey]]
| order               = 
| honorific-prefix    = 
| image               = Nihat Erim in Washington D.C (cropped).jpg
| alt                 = 
| smallimage          = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
| caption             = Erim in 1972
| predecessor         = [[Süleyman Demirel]]
| successor           = [[Ferit Melen]]
| president           = [[Cevdet Sunay]]
| signature           = 
| office2             = Deputy Prime Minister
| predecessor2        = [[Faruk Ahmet Barutçu]]
| party               = [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| otherparty          = [[Republican People's Party]] (CHP)
| successor2          = [[Samet Ağauğlu]]
| office4             = {{GNAT MP}}
| term_start4         = 15 October 1961
| term_end4           = 14 October 1973
| term_start5         = 28 February 1943
| term_end5           = 14 May 1950
| constituency5       = [[Kocaeli (electoral district)|Kocaeli]]  ([[1943 Turkish general election|1943]], [[1946 Turkish general election|1946]], [[1961 Turkish general election|1961]],<br />[[1965 Turkish general election|1965]], [[1969 Turkish general election|1969]])
| birthname           = 
| birth_date          = 30 November 1912
| birth_place         = [[Kandıra]], [[Hüdavendigâr Vilayet|Hudavendigar]], [[Ottoman Empire]] (modern [[Turkey]])
| death_date          = {{d-da|19 July 1980|30 November 1912}}
| death_place         = [[Kartal]], [[Istanbul Province]], [[Turkey]]
| restingplace        = [[Zincirlikuyu Cemetery]], Istanbul
| restingplacecoordinates = 
| nationality         = Turkish
| spouse              = Kamile Okutman
| partner             = <!--For those with a domestic partner and not married-->
| relations           = 
| children            = 2
| residence           = 
| alma_mater          = [[Galatasaray High School]]<br/>[[Istanbul University]]<br/>[[University of Paris]]
| occupation          = 
| profession          = Academic
| cabinet             = 
| committees          = 
| portfolio           = 
| term_start          = 26 March 1971
| term_end            = 22 May 1972
| term_start2         = 16 January 1949
| term_end2           = 22 May 1950
| office3             = Minister of Public Works
| term_start3         = 10 June 1948
| term_end3           = 16 January 1949
| predecessor3        = [[Kasım Gülek]]
| successor3          = [[Hasan Şevket Adalan]]
| parents             = Raif Bey (Father), Macide Hanım (Mother)
}}
'''İsmail Nihat Erim''' (30 November 1912<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=paYSAAAAIAAJ&q=Nihat+Erim+Nov.+30,+1912|title = Who's who in America: Supplement to Who's who, a current biographical reference service|year = 1948}}</ref> – 19 July 1980) was a Turkish [[politician]] and [[jurist]]. He served as the 13th [[Prime Minister of Turkey|prime minister of Turkey]] for almost 14 months after the [[1971 Turkish coup d'état|1971 Turkish military memorandum]]. He was [[assassination|assassinated]] by the [[Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front]] in [[Istanbul]] in 1980.

==Early life and education==
{{Anchor|Biography}}
Nihat Erim was born in [[Kandıra]] to Raif Bey and Macide Hanım. After graduating from [[Istanbul University]] Law School in 1936, he studied further to earn his [[doctorate]] degree in Paris Law School in 1939.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-23 |title=Nihat Erim (1911-1980) |url=https://ataturkansiklopedisi.gov.tr/bilgi/nihat-erim-1911-1980/ |access-date=2024-01-28 |website=Atatürk Ansiklopedisi |language=tr}}</ref> He returned to [[Turkey]] to become an assistant professor in 1939 and professor in 1942 at the [[Ankara University]] School of Law.

During his studies at the Istanbul University Erim was a member of the [[Turkish National Student Union]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Joseph S. Szyliowicz|title=Students and Politics in Turkey|journal=[[Middle Eastern Studies (journal)|Middle Eastern Studies]]|volume=6|issue=2|page=155
|year=1970|jstor=4282321}}</ref>

== Political career ==
[[File:Nihat Erim in Washington D.C.jpg|thumb|left|220px|alt=Nihat Erim shaking hands|Nihat Erim on a visit in Washington D.C.]]

He was appointed as legal advisor to the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Turkey)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] in 1943 while he was still in the university. He also served as an advisor in the Turkish committee at the conference on the founding of the [[United Nations]] in [[San Francisco]] in 1945. That same year, he was elected and served as the [[Kocaeli Province]] representative at the [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey|Turkish Parliament]] to join the [[Republican People's Party]] ({{langx|tr|Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi}}, CHP) group at the parliament. In 1949, he served as the minister of public works and later as [[deputy prime minister]].

In 1950, when [[Republican People's Party|CHP]] lost the majority in the parliament after the elections, he lost his seat and became the chief politics editor and leading writer of the newspaper "''[[Ulus newspaper (1934-1971)|Ulus]]''" ("''Nation''"). When it was closed down by the government, he went on to publish his own newspaper, "''Yeni Ulus&ndash;Halkçı''" ("''New Nation&ndash;Populist''") in 1953. In 1956, he participated at the negotiations on [[History of Cyprus|Cyprus]] in [[London, England]]. The same year, he was selected as the Turkish member of the [[European Commission on Human Rights]] to serve in this position until 1962. He led the Turkish committee on the preparation of the Cyprus constitution in 1959, following Zurich and London Agreements. He continued legally advising the Turkish committees at further negotiations on Cyprus at the [[United Nations]].

After the [[1960 Turkish coup d'état|military coup of 1960]], once again he was elected and served as Kocaeli representative in the parliament, and this time as head of the CHP group. He was one of the focal points of internal conflicts of CHP, opposing the leader [[İsmet İnönü]]. The conflict resulted in him being ousted from the party in 1962. He was re-elected to the party's ruling committee taking second highest votes, thus joining the party again.

He served as the Turkish representative at the [[Council of Europe]] between 1961 and 1970, and was elected as deputy secretary general in 1961. In 1969, he was appointed as a member of the UN [[International Law Commission]] in [[The Hague]], [[Netherlands]].

In Turkey, after a spree of political violence, and the [[1971 Turkish coup d'état|coup by memorandum]], the army forced the resignation of prime minister [[Süleyman Demirel]] on 12 March 1971. Nihat Erim, while still at the university, was advised to withdraw from his post in the Republican People's Party (CHP) by the [[National Security Council (Turkey)|National Security Council]], which was then heavily influenced by the military. 

=== Prime minister ===
He was appointed a neutral and technocratic prime minister on 26 March 1971 to form a "national unity" coalition government (see [[33rd government of Turkey]]), the first of a series of weak governments until the [[1973 Turkish general election|elections in 1973]]. During his tenure he ruled out the existence of another nationality living in Turkey and the [[Kurds in Turkey|Kurdish]] population in the country was oppressed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Simpson |first=Dwight James |date=1977 |title=Turkey: Shadows of Conflict |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45314312 |journal=Current History |volume=72 |issue=423 |pages=12 |doi=10.1525/curh.1977.72.423.11 |jstor=45314312 |issn=0011-3530|url-access=subscription }}</ref>  One of the actions in regards of the Kurdish question during Erim's prime ministry was the closing down of the [[Workers' Party of Turkey (1961)|Workers Party of Turkey]] ({{langx|tr|Türkiye İşçi Partisi}}, TİP) for its recognition of the Kurds as a distinct ethnicity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sever |first=Aysegül |date=2013 |title='Power Led' Outside Intervention in Kurdish Politics in Iraq and Turkey in the Early 1970s |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23470988 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=271 |doi=10.1080/00263206.2012.759100 |jstor=23470988 |s2cid=145280600 |issn=0026-3206|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 

Erim was forced to resign when 11 technocratic ministers of his cabinet resigned as a body on 3 December 1971. However, he was appointed once more by the President [[Cevdet Sunay]], and he formed [[34th government of Turkey|his second cabinet]] on 11 December 1971. He resigned on 17 April 1972 on health grounds, when his decision to promulgate decree laws was not backed by the parliament. His resignation was approved on 22 May 1972, and [[Ferit Melen]], representative of the [[Van Province]] and minister of national defense in his cabinet, was appointed as the new prime minister and formed [[35th government of Turkey|his own cabinet]].

During his premiership, a significant contribution he made to Turkish politics was to form a ministry of culture (today in the form of the [[Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Turkey)|Ministry of Culture and Tourism]]), which was until then a mere department within the ministry of education. He appointed [[Talat Halman]], journalist-writer, as the minister to this newly formed post. His government's prohibition of [[opium]] poppy harvesting in June 1971 under US pressure fired controversy. A change in the constitution brought together a witch hunt for leftists, reaching its peak after the [[Assassination of Efraim Elrom|abduction and killing]] of the Israeli ambassador [[Efraim Elrom]] in May 1971.

==Assassination==
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2017}}
Erim was shot to death by two gunmen near his home in [[Kartal]], [[Istanbul]] on 19 July 1980. Radical leftist Turkish militant group [[Dev Sol]] (Revolutionary Left) claimed responsibility for the attack.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia [2 volumes]|last=Newton|first=Michael|date=2014-04-17|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781610692861|pages=138|language=en}}</ref> The assassination might have accelerated the [[1980 Turkish coup d'état|military coup]] on September 12 of that year led by [[Chief of the Turkish General Staff|chief of staff]] [[Kenan Evren]]. The motive behind the assassination is thought to be related to the approval by the parliament of the execution of three leftist militants, one being [[Deniz Gezmiş]], during his service as prime minister.

Erim's assassination was part of the [[Political violence in Turkey, 1970s|wave of political violence in Turkey in the late 1970s]] between left-wing Marxist and right-wing ultranationalist groups.

== Personal life ==
Erim was married to Kamile Okutman, having two children: Işık Erim and Işıl Onalp (née Erim), as well as five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

==See also==
* [[List of assassinated people from Turkey]]

==Books==
*''Le Positivisme Juridique et le Droit International'' (Judicial Positivism and International Law), 1939.
*''XVII. Yüzyıldan Zamanımııza Kadar Tabii Hukuk Nazariyeleri'' (Natural Theories of Law from 17th Century Until Today), translation from Le Fur, 1940.
*''Amme Hukuku Dersleri'' (Public Law Lessons), 1941.
*''Devletlerarası Amme Hukuku'' (International Public Law), translation from Le Fur, 1944.
*''Siyasi Tarih ve Devletlerararası Hukuk Metinleri'' (Political History and International Law Texts), 1953.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*Kılıçlıoğlu, Safa; Araz, Nezihe; Devrim, Hakkı; (eds.) (1969). Erim (Nihat). In ''Meydan-Larousse Büyük Lügat ve Ansiklopedisi'', Vol. 4; p.&nbsp;319. Meydan Yayınevi, Istanbul.

{{start box}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box |
  before=[[Faruk Ahmet Barutçu]] |
  title=[[List of Deputy Prime Ministers of Turkey|Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey]] |
  years=16 January 1949&ndash;22 May 1950 |
  after=[[Samet Ağaoğlu]]
}}
{{succession box |
  before=[[Süleyman Demirel]] |
  title=[[List of Prime Ministers of Turkey|Prime Minister of Turkey]] |
  years=26 March 1971&ndash;22 May 1972 |
  after=[[Ferit Melen]]
}}
{{end box}}

{{Prime Ministers of Turkey}}{{Political violence in Turkey}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erim, Nihat}}
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:1980 deaths]]
[[Category:1980 murders in Asia]]
[[Category:20th-century prime ministers of Turkey]]
[[Category:People from Kandıra]]
[[Category:People from Hüdavendigâr vilayet]]
[[Category:Ulus (newspaper) people]]
[[Category:Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians]]
[[Category:Deputy prime ministers of Turkey]]
[[Category:Members of the 34th government of Turkey]]
[[Category:Deputies of Kocaeli]]
[[Category:Members of the Senate of the Republic (Turkey)]]
[[Category:Ministers of public works of Turkey]]
[[Category:Members of the 17th government of Turkey]]
[[Category:Members of the 18th government of Turkey]]
[[Category:Members of the 33rd government of Turkey]]
[[Category:Galatasaray High School alumni]]
[[Category:Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Ankara University]]
[[Category:Assassinated Turkish politicians]]
[[Category:Deaths by firearm in Turkey]]
[[Category:People murdered in Turkey]]
[[Category:Burials at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery]]
[[Category:Turkish officials of the United Nations]]
[[Category:Political violence in Turkey (1976–1980)]]
[[Category:Turkish expatriates in France]]
[[Category:Asian politicians assassinated in the 1980s]]
[[Category:Politicians assassinated in 1980]]