Deniz Baykal (20 July 1938 – 11 February 2023) was a Turkish politician, as well as a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP), who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 1996. Having served in numerous government positions, Baykal led the CHP from 1992 to February 1995, from September 1995 to 1999 and again from 2000 to 2010. Between 2002 and 2010, he also served as the Leader of the Opposition by virtue of leading the second largest party in the Parliament.
First elected to Parliament in 1973, Baykal went on to serve as Minister of Finance in the CHP-MSP coalition of 1974 and as Minister of Energy and Natural Resources in the third government of Bülent Ecevit from 1978 to 1979. With the CHP shut down during the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, Baykal was briefly imprisoned before being elected to Parliament once again in 1987 from the new Social Democratic People's Party (SHP).
Baykal was one of the leading members of the re-established CHP, which was founded again in 1992. He served as the party's leader until 1995, when the CHP and SHP merged during a convention. He was re-elected leader in September 1995, after which Baykal contested the 1995 general election and formed a coalition government with Tansu Çiller's True Path Party. He served concurrently as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1995 and 1996. Leading the CHP into a landslide defeat in the 1999 general election, Baykal resigned after the party was entirely ejected from Parliament for failing to surpass the 10% election threshold. Regardless, he was re-elected as leader in 2000 and led the party to a moderate success in the 2002 general election, becoming the Leader of the Opposition.
As the oldest MP in Parliament following the June 2015 general election, Baykal briefly served as the interim Speaker of the Grand National Assembly. He was the CHP's candidate to become the permanent Parliamentary Speaker for the 25th Parliament of Turkey in the June–July 2015 speaker elections, but lost to Justice and Development Party candidate İsmet Yılmaz. Following a breakdown of coalition talks after the election, Baykal was offered a ministerial position in the subsequent interim election government formed by AKP leader Ahmet Davutoğlu, which he turned down in line with the party executive's decision. He became interim parliamentary Speaker for a second time on 17 November 2015 by virtue of being the oldest MP after the November 2015 general election. He was succeeded by the AKP MP İsmail Kahraman, who was elected Speaker on 22 November 2015.
Baykal was born to Hüseyin Hilmi and Feride in Antalya. He was educated at the University of Ankara Faculty of Law. He later studied at the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University as a Rockefeller scholar. Following this, he completed his Ph.D. by 1963 at the University of Ankara Faculty of Political Science. He became an associate professor at the same faculty, where he lectured until 1973.
Baykal first became involved in politics during the 1950s, having taken part in student movements opposing the Democratic Party (Turkish: Demokrat Parti) government of Adnan Menderes. He was noticed by senior officials of the CHP after writing a detailed analysis of the party's defeat in the 1965 general election, which would form the basis of his academic thesis that he submitted to become a docent. In the 1973 general election, he was elected as a CHP Member of Parliament for Antalya. At the time of his election, he was the youngest MP in Parliament.
In the short-lived coalition government of Bülent Ecevit that had been formed with the Islamist National Salvation Party led by Necmettin Erbakan, Baykal become the Minister of Finance. His tenure would last under a year, with the unlikely partnership between the secular-orientated CHP and the Islamist-orientated MSP collapsing in November 1974.
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, 1978-79
Baykal became the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources in the third cabinet of Bülent Ecevit, which lasted from January 1978 to November 1979. The government had a narrow vote of confidence in Parliament due to a loose coalition with independent MPs, the Democratic Party and the Republican Reliance Party. Despite the government maintaining a small majority, the CHP lost ground in the Senate and by-elections held in October 1979, causing Ecevit to resign.
At the same time as serving as Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Baykal was also elected to the CHP Party Council and served as both a Central Executive Committee member and a deputy Secretary General of the party. In the party convention held after the disappointing 1979 senate and by-elections, he was heavily critical of the party's established executive.
Like many politicians of the 1970s, Baykal was arrested and detained in Ankara, receiving a ban of five years from the military on grounds of political activities. Baykal joined the Social Democracy Party SODEP in 1984. In a constitutional referendum held in 1987, the electorate voted to lift all political bans from the coup-era. As a result, Ecevit, Süleyman Demirel and other key politicians of the pre-1980 era returned to politics alongside Baykal.
SODEP merged with the Populist Party (SHP) in 1987 and Baykal was elected again as an MP from Antalya in 1987 general elections. He was elected to the second chair of the Social Democratic Populist Party as the General Secretary in 1988 and served as the party's parliamentary group leader. He stood as General secretary on 10 September 1990, after which he stood against the party's leader Erdal İnönü three times but failed to win on all occasions. He became the leader of the inner-party opposition to the leadership.
During this period, he served as the co-president of the Turkey-European Union inter-parliamentary committee and was a member of the parliamentary foreign policy committee.
Re-establishment of the CHP, 1992
In 1992, with the abandonment of laws prohibiting the re-foundation of former political parties, he led a significant movement and re-established the historical Republican People's Party (CHP), which had been closed down by 1980 military regime. He was elected as the leader of the party.
The CHP had entered the 1994 local elections with the political left split between the CHP, SHP and the Democratic Left Party (DSP) of Bülent Ecevit. In a party convention held in February 1995, the CHP formally merged with the SHP, while the DSP refused to consider a merger. Baykal did not stand for the leadership in this convention, with Hikmet Çetin being elected leader of the newly enlarged CHP instead.
Baykal was re-elected as leader of the CHP during a convention in September 1995. He formed a coalition with the True Path Party (DYP), with DYP leader Tansu Çiller as Prime Minister. Baykal subsequently became Deputy Prime Minister and the minister of Foreign Affairs. His one condition for going into coalition was holding an early election, which happened in December 1995. The CHP came fifth with just 10.71% of the vote, and the DYP-CHP coalition lost their majority in Parliament.
Despite their poor election performance, Baykal was reelected as leader during the CHP convention of 27 February 1998. In the 1999 general election, the CHP scored below the 10% election threshold needed to win seats in Parliaments, resulting in all CHP MPs being ejected from the chamber. Baykal subsequently resigned as leader and Altan Öymen was elected in his place. However, he stood again for the leadership against Öymen in the 2000 extraordinary convention, being elected for a third time as CHP leader.