Sadi Irmak

Sadi Irmak
17th Prime Minister of Turkey
In office November 17, 1974 – March 31, 1975
President	Fahri Korutürk
Preceded by	Bülent Ecevit
Succeeded by	Süleyman Demirel
Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey
In office October 27, 1981 – December 4, 1983
President	Kenan Evren
Preceded by	Cahit Karakaş
Succeeded by	Necmettin Karaduman
Minister of Labor
In office March 9, 1943 – September 9, 1947
Prime Minister	Recep Peker, Şükrü Saracoğlu
Succeeded by	Bekir Balta
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office 28 February 1943 – 14 May 1950
Constituency	Konya (1943, 1946)
Personal details
Born	(1904-05-15)May 15, 1904 Seydişehir, Ottoman Empire
Died	November 11, 1990(1990-11-11) (aged 86) Istanbul, Turkey
Resting place	Aşiyan Asri Cemetery, Istanbul
Nationality	Turkish
Political party	Republican People's Party (CHP)
Alma mater	Istanbul University, University of Berlin
Occupation	Physician, politician

Mahmut Sadi Irmak (May 15, 1904 – November 11, 1990) was a Turkish academic in physiology, politician and former Prime Minister of Turkey.

Biography

He was born in the town Seydişehir of Konya, Ottoman Empire in 1904. He became teacher for biology after finishing the college in Konya. However, he quit his job the same year and attended the Law School at Istanbul University. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk wanted to send 50 of his students abroad for a good education in 1925. A test was held for this throughout Turkey. Sadi was among those who took the exam and was chosen. When Sadi got on the train, he refused to go. Just then, a telegram arrived. Sadi read Atatürk's words: I send you as a spark, you should return as a flame. That words affected Sadi. And he decided to go again. He went to Germany on a state granted scholarship to study biology and medicine. He graduated from the University of Berlin in 1929 with a degree in medicine. After completing his study, Sadi Irmak worked as an assistant physician in hospitals in Hagen and Düsseldorf, Germany. Irmak was fascinated by the Nazis and was a prominent proponent of eugenics.

Returned to Turkey, he worked as a government physician and teacher for biology. In 1932, he became a lecturer at the School of Medicine of Istanbul University, and in 1939, he was promoted to full professor for physiology.

Political career

Sadi Irmak entered politics in 1943 as deputy of Konya. Between June 7, 1945, and August 5, 1946, he served as minister of labor in the cabinet of Şükrü Saracoğlu, becoming the first Turkish politician to assume the post. He returned to the faculty, however, in 1950, to lecture first in Munich, Germany and then in Istanbul again. In 1974, he was admitted to the Senate. The same year, Sadi Irmak was commissioned by President Fahri Korutürk to form the 38th government of Turkey on November 17, 1974. The caretaker government under his prime ministry lasted for 124 days until his resignation on March 31, 1975, when he lost a vote of no confidence in the parliament. After the military coup on September 12, 1980, he was elected to the Consultative Assembly. He acted as its speaker from October 27, 1981, until December 4, 1983.

Sadi Irmak died on November 11, 1990, in Istanbul, and was buried at the Aşiyan Asri Cemetery. He was survived by his wife and two children. His daughter, Prof. Yakut Irmak Özden, is director of the Institute for Atatürk's Ideology and History of His Reforms at Istanbul University.

References

• Sadi Irmak's Biography (in Turkish)

External links

• Turkish Grand National Assembly official website (in Turkish)