Started in MHP, ended in CHP! Here is the political life of Yaşar Okuyan…

Former Minister of Labor and Social Security Yaşar Okuyan has passed away at the age of 73.

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Started in MHP, ended in CHP! Here is the political life of Yaşar Okuyan…

Şenol ÇARIK - 12punto.com.tr

The political journey of Yaşar Okuyan, who was a fixture in Turkish politics for many years, began in the MHP and continued with ANAP before proceeding through various other parties. This highly active political career eventually came to an end in left-wing parties...

Here are highlights from Yaşar Okuyan's political life spanning over 50 years...

Yaşar Okuyan, who had nationalist (Ülkücü) roots, stood at opposite poles from his brother Arif Okuyan. His brother, Arif Okuyan, who was 4 years his junior, adopted the surname “Ekim”—a reference to the Soviet October Revolution—to avoid sharing a surname with his brother, whom he labeled a “fascist.” Information appears in various places that Arif Ekim, a member of the TKP (Communist Party of Turkey), was also the owner of the magazine Ürün. However, the name “Ural Ateşer” appears as the owner in all 55 issues of the socialist magazine Ürün, which was published between July 1974 and January 1979.

Born in 1950, Yaşar Okuyan served as a member of the MHP General Administrative Board (GİK) starting in 1973, and later as Deputy Secretary General of the MHP in 1977. He was tried and imprisoned following the September 12, 1980, coup. He was released from prison in 1982.

He stood by Turgut Özal during the founding of the Motherland Party (ANAP). He returned to politics in 1987 after his political ban was lifted.

When Turgut Özal was elected President on October 31, 1989, Yıldırım Akbulut took the seat of party chairman vacated by Özal. Continuing his politics within ANAP, Okuyan took an active role alongside Mesut Yılmaz, who challenged Prime Minister and ANAP Chairman Yıldırım Akbulut for the party leadership in June 1991. At the congress, Mesut Yılmaz was elected chairman with 631 votes, while Yıldırım Akbulut remained at 523 votes. Having lost the race, Akbulut also resigned from the Prime Ministry.

For the first time in the history of the Republic of Turkey, a prime minister lost his position as a result of an intra-party opposition movement while in office.

Yaşar Okuyan held positions in ANAP such as Chief Advisor to the Chairman, Head of Press and Propaganda, and Deputy Chairman.

He reconciled with his brother Arif Ekim Okuyan, with whom he had been estranged for a long time due to political disagreements before 1980, and they continued their politics under the ANAP umbrella. (https://www.hakimiyet.com/iki-kardes-siyasi-arenada-zit-kutuplarda-ulkucu-yasar-okuyan-ve-tkp-uyesi-arif-okuyan-in-karsit-yasamlari/68769/)

After Yalova, a district of Istanbul, became a province in 1995, he was elected as an ANAP Yalova Deputy in the December 24, 1995, and April 18, 1999, elections.

Following the 1999 elections, he served as the Minister of Labor and Social Security in the coalition government of the DSP, MHP, and ANAP.

He faced significant backlash as one of the officials responsible for Law No. 4447, which went into effect on September 8, 1999, and which large segments of the workforce and society opposed, calling it the “retirement in the grave law.” This law introduced an age requirement of 58 for women and 60 for men, in addition to the existing requirements of 20 years of insurance for women and 25 for men, and 5,000 days of premium payments. The EYT (Retirement Age Victims) movement was born after this law.

In August 2002, Okuyan, having fallen out with ANAP Chairman Mesut Yılmaz, resigned first from his position as Minister of Labor and Social Security, and one week later from his position as ANAP Deputy Chairman.

Continuing his path as an Independent Deputy for Yalova, Yaşar Okuyan joined his pre-1980 party, the MHP, shortly thereafter.

In 2004, he left the MHP. He took the helm of the Democratic Turkey Party (DTP). The DTP had been founded in January 1997 under the leadership of Hüsamettin Cindoruk by a group of DYP deputies who resigned in protest of the Refahyol government.

At the congress held on May 15, 2005, the party's name was changed to the “Freedom and Change Party” (Hür Parti). Yaşar Okuyan's brother, Arif Ekim, also became a member of the party's Central Executive Board (MYK). It was stated that Okuyan told his close circle, “I spent my savings for this party.”

On January 12, 2008, he dissolved the Hür Parti, which he chaired, and joined the People's Rise Party (HYP) led by Yaşar Nuri Öztürk. He was subsequently expelled from the party at Öztürk's request.

Running as an independent candidate for deputy from his hometown of Yalova in the June 12, 2011, elections, Okuyan received only 2,110 votes, which was not enough for him to be elected.

When the calendar turned to February 15, 2015, the Workers' Party Extraordinary Congress gathered in Ankara with the slogan ‘Unity for a National Government’, and the party's name was changed to the “Patriotic Party” (Vatan Partisi).

Yaşar Okuyan, along with former DSP State Minister Tayfun İçli and former Justice Party Deputy Hasan Korkmazcan, were elected as Deputy Chairmen of the party.

Yaşar Okuyan's brother, Arif Ekim, also became a member of the Vatan Partisi.

The party, led by Doğu Perinçek, received 161,616 votes (0.35 percent) in the June 7, 2015, elections, and 118,803 votes (0.25 percent) in the November 1, 2015, elections.

Okuyan resigned from the Vatan Partisi in April 2018, before the elections.

Joining the CHP in February 2019, Okuyan said the following during the badge-pinning ceremony at the CHP group meeting: "There is an effort to bring the right-left issue, which remained 40 years ago, back to the agenda. The government and its supporters from certain centers want to scratch at the events of 40 years ago. It is time to break this game. That is why we came to Atatürk's party, Mustafa Kemal's party."

Yaşar Okuyan, whose 50-year political career began in the MHP and finally continued in the CHP, was expelled from the CHP on February 22, 2023, following his remarks regarding İyi Party leader Akşener: “If Meral Akşener breaks the table and opposes Kılıçdaroğlu's presidential candidacy, there will be a price to pay; I have documents and files in my hand, I will reveal them all. They are all documents from her time as Minister of Interior. Don't make me talk. It is treason.”

Yaşar Okuyan, who had been a part of Turkish political life for over 50 years and was hospitalized last week due to health problems, passed away on December 26, 2023, at the age of 73. His brother, Arif Ekim, had passed away on June 2, 2023, at the age of 69...

News Source: Şenol Çarık

Started in MHP, ended in CHP! Here is the political life of Yaşar Okuyan…

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