Nihat Erim - Political Career

Political Career

In 1950, when 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" . When it was closed down, he went on to publish his own newspaper, "Yeni Ulus–Halkçı" ("New Nation–Populist") in 1953. In 1956, he participated at the negotiations on Cyprus in London, UK. 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 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 the focal points of internal conflicts of CHP, opposing the leader Ismet Inönü. 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 though, after a spree of political violence, and the coup by memorandum, the army forced the resignation of the prime minister Süleyman Demirel on March 12, 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, which was heavily influenced by the military then. He was appointed a neutral prime minister on March 26, 1971 to form a "national unity" coalition government, the first of a series of weak governments until the elections in 1973.

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

During his term of prime ministry, a significant contribution he made to Turkish politics was to form a ministry of culture, 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 the leftists, reaching its peak after the abduction and killing of the Israeli ambassador Efraim Elrom in May 1971. One of the boldest actions taken during Erim's prime ministry was the closing down of the "Türkiye İşçi Partisi" TİP ("Turkish Workers' Party").

He was shot to death by two gunmen on July 19, 1980. Radical leftist Turkish militant group Dev Sol (Revolutionary Left) claimed responsibility for the attack. The assassination might have accelerated the military coup on September 12 of that year led by chief of staff Kenan Evren. The motive behind the assassination can 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.