Deniz Baykal

Deniz Baykal
Baykal in 2015
Speaker of the Grand National Assembly Interim
In office 17 November 2015 – 22 November 2015
President	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Preceded by	İsmet Yılmaz
Succeeded by	İsmail Kahraman
In office 23 June 2015 – 1 July 2015
President	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Preceded by	Cemil Çiçek
Succeeded by	İsmet Yılmaz
Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
In office 31 October 1995 – 6 March 1996
Prime Minister	Tansu Çiller
Preceded by	Necmettin Cevheri
Succeeded by	Nahit Menteşe
Leader of the Opposition
In office 19 November 2002 – 22 May 2010
Prime Minister	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Abdullah Gül
Preceded by	Tansu Çiller
Succeeded by	Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 31 October 1995 – 6 March 1996
Prime Minister	Tansu Çiller
Preceded by	Ali Coşkun Kırca
Succeeded by	Emre Gönensay
Vice President of Socialist International
In office 31 October 2003 – 2 July 2008
President	António Guterres George Papandreou
Country	Turkey
Preceded by	Erdal İnönü
Succeeded by	Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu
4th Leader of the Republican People's Party
In office 30 September 2000 – 10 May 2010
Preceded by	Altan Öymen
Succeeded by	Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu
In office 9 September 1995 – 23 May 1999
Preceded by	Hikmet Çetin
Succeeded by	Altan Öymen
In office 9 September 1992 – 18 February 1995
Preceded by	Bülent Ecevit
Succeeded by	Hikmet Çetin
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
In office 5 January 1978 – 12 November 1979
Prime Minister	Bülent Ecevit
Preceded by	Kamran İnan
Succeeded by	Ahmet Esat Kıratlıoğlu
Minister of Finance
In office 26 January 1974 – 17 November 1974
Prime Minister	Bülent Ecevit
Preceded by	Sadık Tekin Müftüoğlu
Succeeded by	Bedri Gürsoy
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office 14 November 2002 – 11 February 2023
Constituency	Antalya (2002, 2007, 2011, June 2015, Nov 2015, 2018)
In office 14 December 1987 – 18 April 1999
Constituency	Antalya (1987, 1991, 1995)
In office 14 October 1973 – 12 September 1980
Constituency	Antalya (1973, 1977)
Personal details
Born	(1938-07-20)20 July 1938 Antalya, Turkey
Died	11 February 2023(2023-02-11) (aged 84) Ankara, Turkey
Resting place	Turkish State Cemetery
Political party	Republican People's Party (1968–1980, 1992–2023) Populist Party/Social Democracy Party (1983–1985) Social Democratic Populist Party (1985–1992)
Spouse	Olcay Baykal ​ (m. 1963)​
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Ankara University of California Columbia University

Deniz Baykal (20 July 1938 – 11 February 2023) was a Turkish politician. A member of the Republican People's Party (CHP) who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 1996. Having served in numerous government positions, Baykal led the CHP from 1992 to February 1995, from September 1995 to 1999 and again from 2000 to 2010. Between 2002 and 2010, he also served as the Leader of the Opposition by virtue of leading the second largest party in the Parliament.

First elected to Parliament in 1973, Baykal went on to serve as Minister of Finance in the CHP-MSP coalition of 1974 and as Minister of Energy and Natural Resources in the third government of Bülent Ecevit from 1978 to 1979. With the CHP shut down during the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, Baykal was briefly imprisoned before being elected to Parliament once again in 1987 from the new Social Democratic People's Party (SHP).

Baykal was one of the leading members of the re-established CHP, which was founded again in 1992. He served as the party's leader until 1995, when the CHP and SHP merged during a convention. He was re-elected leader in September 1995, after which Baykal contested the 1995 general election and formed a coalition government with Tansu Çiller's True Path Party. He served concurrently as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1995 and 1996. Leading the CHP into a landslide defeat in the 1999 general election, Baykal resigned after the party was entirely ejected from Parliament for failing to surpass the 10% election threshold. Regardless, he was re-elected as leader in 2000 and led the party to a moderate success in the 2002 general election, becoming the Leader of the Opposition.

As the oldest MP in Parliament following the June 2015 general election, Baykal briefly served as the interim Speaker of the Grand National Assembly. He was the CHP's candidate to become the permanent Parliamentary Speaker for the 25th Parliament of Turkey in the June–July 2015 speaker elections, but lost to Justice and Development Party candidate İsmet Yılmaz. Following a breakdown of coalition talks after the election, Baykal was offered a ministerial position in the subsequent interim election government formed by AKP leader Ahmet Davutoğlu, which he turned down in line with the party executive's decision.^[1] He became interim parliamentary Speaker for a second time on 17 November 2015 by virtue of being the oldest MP after the November 2015 general election. He was succeeded by the AKP MP İsmail Kahraman, who was elected Speaker on 22 November 2015.