1991 Turkish general election
General elections were held in Turkey on 20 October 1991, to elect members to the 19th Grand National Assembly. It was the first by the ruling Motherland Party to be contested without its founding leader, Turgut Özal, who had become Turkish president two years previously. The result was a swing against Özal's former party in favour of its fierce centre-right rival, the True Path Party led by Süleyman Demirel. The vote saw two additional parties cross the 10 percent barrier to enter parliament. Necmettin Erbakan and his Welfare Party saw a party of religious background returned for the first time in 14 years. Welfare had a greatly increased share of the vote and took several key provinces, including Istanbul in 1994 local elections. Bülent Ecevit's Democratic Left Party also scraped through to win seven seats. Voter turnout was 83.9%.
Image: Suleyman Demirel 1998 (cropped)
Image: Mesut Yilmaz as Turkish Prime Minister
Image: Necmettin Erbakan
Image: Bülent Ecevit Davos 2000 cropped
Halil Turgut Özal was a prominent Turkish politician, bureaucrat, engineer and statesman who served as the 8th President of Turkey from 1989 to 1993. He previously served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey from 1983 to 1989 as the leader of the Motherland Party. He was the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey in the military government of Bülend Ulusu between 1980 and 1982.
Özal in 1989
Andreas Papandreou and Turgut Özal in Davos, 1986.
Özal with European Commission President Jacques Delors, 23 May 1989
Turgut Özal and Felipe González at Moncloa Palace, September 1989.