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| Europe |
| Turkish ex-OM Ecevit dies |
| 2006-11-06 |
| Former Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has died after nearly six months in a coma following a stroke, aged 81. The veteran politician had five terms in office in a career of four decades, before being swept from power in 2002. He ordered the invasion of Cyprus in 1974 to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority, leading to the island's division which still exists today. Mr Ecevit was responsible for pushing Turkey closer to the West and towards candidacy for EU membership. The former Socialist prime minister had strongly opposed the country's Islamists and championed the secular state. He was swept from power in 2002 after refusing to resign on health grounds, and he was blamed in part for the economic crisis which rocked Turkey. This made way for the rise of current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party. more at the link |
| Posted by:lotp |