Who is Recai Kutan?
Saadet Party Founding Chairman Recai Kutan has passed away at the age of 94.
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Recai Kutan has passed away at the age of 94. Kutan served as a Malatya deputy for the National Salvation Party (MSP) in the 1977 elections and as the Minister of Reconstruction and Resettlement in the 1977 coalition government.
WHO IS RECAI KUTAN?
Mehmet Recai Kutan was born on April 5, 1930, in Malatya. He was one of the closest companions of Necmettin Erbakan and was among the leading figures of the National View (Milli Görüş) Movement.
Having completed his primary, secondary, and high school education in Malatya, Kutan graduated from the Istanbul Technical University Faculty of Civil Engineering in 1952. Following his graduation, he worked at the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ) between 1952 and 1969.
In 1969, he founded the Turkish Engineering Consulting Company and began his political life by serving as the Deputy Chairman of the National Salvation Party between 1974 and 1980.
HE SPENT 10 MONTHS IN PRISON
In the 1977 elections, he served as a Malatya deputy for the National Salvation Party and as the Minister of Reconstruction and Resettlement in the 1977 coalition government. After the September 12 coup, he spent 9.5 months in prison along with other MSP executives.
He became the deputy chairman of the Welfare Party (Refah Partisi), which was established after 1983, and entered parliament as a Malatya deputy for the Welfare Party. Between 1996 and 1997, he served as the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources in the 54th Government.
Following the closure of the Welfare Party, he was elected as the chairman of the newly established Virtue Party (Fazilet Partisi). He entered parliament as a result of the 1999 general elections. He supported the Rahşan Amnesty and voted in favor during the vote held on December 21, 2000.
HANDED OVER TO ERBAKAN
Following the closure of the Virtue Party, Mehmet Recai Kutan, who was among the founders of the Saadet Party in 2001, assumed the role of the party's first founding chairman. At the 1st Ordinary Congress held on May 11, 2003, he handed over the chairmanship to Necmettin Erbakan. However, the Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Public Prosecutor's Office requested that Erbakan leave his post on December 29, 2003, due to a finalized prison sentence. Upon this, Erbakan resigned from both party membership and the chairmanship on January 30, 2004. Following this development, Recai Kutan began to serve as the acting chairman. At the 2nd Ordinary Congress held on April 8, 2006, he took over the chairmanship through an election. After the 2007 general elections, he handed over his post to Numan Kurtulmuş at the 3rd Ordinary Congress held on October 26, 2008.
In addition to his membership in the Saadet Party High Advisory Board, Recai Kutan also served as the chairman of the Economic and Social Research Center, of which he was also a founder.
Kutan, who spoke English, Arabic, and French, married Mebrure Hanım in 1954, and they had three children named İsmail, Abdülaziz Murat, and Ahmet. His wife, Mebrure Kutan, passed away on November 12, 2009, at the age of 74 due to cancer.