Introduction

In April 2000 the Turkish Grand National Assembly rejected a constitutional amendment allowing Süleyman Demirel a second term of office as president. Sezer, at the time the president of the Constitutional Court, was sworn in as the tenth president of the republic on 16 May 2000. A staunch secularist and supporter of freedom of expression, he was the first president in modern Turkish history to have been neither an active politician nor a military commander. Sezer left office in Aug. 2007 when Abdullah Gül was eventually appointed to succeed him.

Early Life

Ahmet Necdet Sezer was born in Afyon on 13 Sept. 1941. He attended Afyon High School and read law at the University of Ankara. After completion of military service he returned to his legal career and became a supervisory judge at the court of appeals in Ankara. In 1978 he received a master’s degree in civil law. Five years later he was elected to the High Court. His political influence increased in 1988 when President Kenan Evren appointed him to the Constitutional Court. Sezer became Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court in Jan. 1998. He won the presidential election after a third ballot in May 2000.

Career Peak

Despite winning Bülent Ecevit’s backing for the presidency, Sezer came into conflict with the prime minister after he vetoed two bills, one allowing for the dismissal of public employees deemed to have been subversive and the second privatizing several state-owned banks. His first official foreign engagement came on 23 June 2000 when he made a controversial visit to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (recognized only by Turkey), underlining Turkey’s support for the Turkish Cypriots. During his first few months in office, Sezer also made clear his commitment to maintaining the country’s secular status and ensuring Turkish entry to the EU. However, the failure in March 2003 of the leaders of the Greek and Turkish sectors of Cyprus to agree on UN proposals for the island’s reunification put Turkey’s own ambitions to join the EU at risk, since it would not be able to recognize one of the member states (Greek Cyprus).

Turkey underwent a constitutional crisis in 2002 when the Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the Nov. general elections but its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was ineligible for a parliamentary seat (and therefore the premiership) because of a conviction received under a defunct religious law. The AKP’s deputy leader, Abdullah Gül, was named prime minister. In Dec. 2002, after pressure to call a referendum which he was likely to lose, Sezer agreed to constitutional changes which would allow Erdoğan to stand for a parliamentary seat and so become eligible for the premiership. Erdoğan returned to parliament in a by-election in March 2003 and was subsequently appointed prime minister.

In March 2003 Turkey authorized limited assistance to the USA during the war with Iraq and was rewarded with substantial aid. However, Turkey’s deployment of troops in Kurdish-held northern Iraq to block any attempts to establish a Kurdish separatist state caused international unease. In April 2005 Sezer made an official visit to Syria, despite objections from the US government regarding the presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon. He stated that the purpose of the visit was to strengthen bilateral ties and contribute to peace and stability in the region.

In mid-2005 Sezer came into conflict with parliament by blocking amendments to a new penal code which eased restrictions on Islamic teaching. His presidential veto was subsequently overturned. In May 2006 he denounced the assassination of a prominent judge by an Islamist gunman as an attack on the secular republic.

Sezer’s term of office was scheduled to expire in May 2007. Abdullah Gül, the foreign minister, was proposed as his presidential successor in April 2007. However, Gül was unable to gain the required number of votes in parliament and his candidacy was opposed by the army who saw his Muslim background as a threat to the country’s secular status. Sezer’s term was extended until after parliamentary elections held in July 2007. Gül was eventually elected and sworn in on 28 Aug.