Hikmet Çetin
NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan
In office
9 November 2003 – 24 August 2006
Succeeded byDaan W. Everts
20th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly
In office
16 October 1997 – 18 April 1999
PresidentSüleyman Demirel
Preceded byMustafa Kalemli
Succeeded byYıldırım Akbulut
5th Leader of the Republican People's Party
In office
18 February 1995 – 9 September 1995
Preceded byDeniz Baykal
Succeeded byDeniz Baykal
Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
In office
27 March 1995 – 5 October 1995
Prime MinisterTansu Çiller
Preceded byMurat Karayalçın
Succeeded byDeniz Baykal
In office
3 October 1978 – 12 November 1979
Prime MinisterBülent Ecevit
Served withOrhan Eyüboğlu
Faruk Sükan
Preceded byTurhan Feyzioğlu
Succeeded byTurgut Özal
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
21 November 1991 – 27 July 1994
Preceded bySafa Giray
Succeeded byMümtaz Soysal
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office
29 November 1987 – 18 April 1999
In office
5 June 1977 – 12 September 1980
Constituencyİstanbul (1977)
Personal details
Born (1937-08-10) 10 August 1937
Lice, Diyarbakır Province, Turkey
Political partyRepublican People's Party (CHP)
(1955-1980)
(1995-2020)
Other political
affiliations		Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP)
(1983-1995)
Party for Change (2020-)
Spouseİnci Cetin
Children2
Alma materAnkara University
ProfessionEconomist

Hikmet Çetin (born 10 August 1937)[1][2][3] is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin[4] former minister of foreign affairs and was leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) for a short time. He served also as the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

Early life

He was born in Lice, a town in the southeastern Diyarbakır Province. After completing primary school in his hometown and high school in Ankara, he graduated in 1960 with a B.A. degree in Economics and Finance from Ankara University, School of Political Sciences.

After completing his education, Hikmet Çetin joined the State Planning Organization (Turkish: Devlet Planlama Teşkilatı, DPT). Shortly after, he was sent abroad and also to the United States, where he received his M.A. in "Economics of development" from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA. In 1968, he did research work on "Planning models" at the Stanford University, California, USA. After returning home, he completed his military service in 1970 and worked as the head of Economics Planning Department at the DPT until 1977. During this time, he was a part-time lecturer at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara.

Political career

Hikmet Çetin stepped into politics in the 1977 general elections as deputy of Istanbul from the Republican People's Party (CHP). Between 1978 and 1979, he served as Minister of State and later as Deputy Prime Minister in the cabinet of the Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit. Following the 1980 military coup that banned the existing political parties, Hikmet Çetin became an advisor in planning to the Government of Yemen.

He returned to politics following his election to the parliament in 1987 as deputy of Diyarbakır from the Social Democratic Populist Party (Turkish: Sosyal Demokrat Halkçı Parti, SHP), the successor of the banned Republican People's Party. He served in the board of SHP and became its Secretary General. Hikmet Çetin was elected in 1991 for the third time to Parliament as deputy of Gaziantep from SHP.

He was appointed in 1991 Minister of Foreign Affairs in the coalition cabinet of Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel. He kept his seat in the coalition cabinet of Tansu Çiller, who took over the government leadership from Demirel after his rise to the Presidency. Hikmet Çetin resigned from his post on July 27, 1994.

In 1995, the two left wing parties, SHP and CHP decided to merge, and their general assemblies agreed on the leadership of Hikmet Çetin. He was elected chairman on February 18, 1995. At the party convention held on September 9, 1995, he did not run for the chair of the Republican People's Party again and resigned.

Hikmet Çetin retook his seat in the Parliament in the 1995 general elections and was elected as the Speaker of the Parliament on October 16, 1997 and occupied this position until April 18, 1999.

Diplomatic duty

He was appointed on November 19, 2003 as NATO Secretary General's first Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, the highest-level political representative of NATO in this country, where it has held the command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since August 11, 2003. On January 26, 2004, he took office in Kabul, and served two consecutive terms until August 24, 2006.[5]

After Politics

Since 2013, Çetin has been a Member of the Global Leadership Foundation (chaired by FW de Klerk), an organisation that works to support democratic leadership, prevent and resolve conflict through mediation and promote good governance in the form of democratic institutions, open markets, human rights and the rule of law. It does so by making available, discreetly and in confidence, the experience of former leaders to today’s national leaders. It is a not-for-profit organisation composed of former heads of government, senior governmental and international organization officials who work closely with heads of government on governance-related issues of concern to them.

Personal life

Hikmet Çetin is of Kurdish descent,[6] and is married to İnci Çetin, and they have two children.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Profile of Hikmet Çetin
  2. ↑ Hikmet Çetin (in Turkish)
  3. ↑ Eski CHP Genel Başkanı Çetin: Suriye güvende olursa Türkiye güvende olur (in Turkish)
  4. ↑ "Hikmet Çetin'in Afganistan görevi (8 Aralık 2003 tarihli Hürriyet gazetesi)". Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
  5. ↑ Appointment of NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, 19 November 2003
  6. ↑ "Türkiye'nin Kürt Sorunu - 11". Hikmet Çetin de Kürt kökenlidir
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