Fethi Okyar

Ali Fethi Okyar
Prime Minister of Turkey
In office 22 November 1924 – 3 March 1925
President	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Preceded by	İsmet İnönü
Succeeded by	İsmet İnönü
In office 14 August 1923 – 23 October 1923
Preceded by	Rauf Orbay
Succeeded by	İsmet İnönü
Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey
In office 1 November 1923 – 22 November 1924
President	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Prime Minister	İsmet İnönü
Preceded by	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Succeeded by	Kâzım Özalp
Personal details
Born	Ali Fethi (1880-04-29)29 April 1880 Prilep, Manastir Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died	Istanbul, Turkey
Political party	Republican People's Party (1923–1930) Liberal Republican Party (1930) Republican People's Party (1930–1943)
Religion	Islam
Military service
Allegiance	Ottoman Empire
Service/branch	Ottoman Army
Years of service	1898–1914
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Battles/wars	Balkan Wars

Ali Fethi Okyar (29 April 1880 – 7 May 1943) was a Turkish diplomat and politician who also served as a military officer and diplomat during the last decade of the Ottoman Empire. He was also the second Prime Minister of Turkey (1924–1925) and the second Speaker of the Turkish Parliament after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Biography

He was born in the Ottoman town of Prilep in Manastir Vilayet (present-day Republic of Macedonia) to a Circassian family. In 1913, he joined the Committee of Union and Progress (İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti) and was elected as the secretary general. In 1930, while serving as Turkey's Ambassador in Paris, he was asked by Atatürk, during a meeting in Yalova, to establish the Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası (Liberal Republican Party), an early party of opposition, in order to establish the tradition of multi-party democracy in Turkey. However, when the government noticed the support of this opposition party among Islamists, it was declared illegal and closed down, a situation similar to that of the Progressive Republican Party, which had lasted for a few months in 1924. He later served as Justice Minister from 1939 to 1941.

References

Atatürk and Okyar, August 1930

Political offices
Preceded by Rauf Orbay	Prime Minister of Turkey 14 August 1923 – 23 October 1923	Succeeded by İsmet İnönü
Preceded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk	Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey 1 November 1923 – 22 November 1924	Succeeded by Kâzım Özalp
Preceded by İsmet İnönü	Prime Minister of Turkey 22 November 1924 – 3 March 1925	Succeeded by İsmet İnönü
Preceded by Kâzım Özalp	Minister of National Defence 22 November 1924 – 3 March 1925	Succeeded by Recep Peker
Preceded by Tevfik Fikret Sılay	Minister of Justice 27 May 1939 – 13 March 1941	Succeeded by Hasan Menemencioğlu