Former Turkish prime minister Erbakan dies

“Turkey has lost one of its most valuable people... Let him rest in peace,” Erbakan's long-time associate Oguzhan Asilturk said on NTV television, AFP reported.

The chief physician of the Ankara hospital that had been treating Erbakan since early January said his condition deteriorated in the morning.

“There was an abrupt disorder in his heart rhythm... We failed to get any result despite all treatment,” the doctor said in televised remarks.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan immediately issued a message of condolences over the death of a man who was his mentor.

“He set a good example as a teacher and leader for young generations with his personality, his struggle and principles,” Erdogan said.

“We will always remember him with gratitude for what he taught us and for his persevering character,” he said.

Erbakan, who headed the Islamist Felicity Party, had looked increasing frail in recent years and often used a wheelchair.

He became secular Turkey's first Islamist prime minister in 1996 at the helm of a coalition with a centre-right party.

But he was forced to resign a year later as a result of a harsh secularist campaign led by the army concerned over Turkey's secular, pro-Western generals. The campaign came after his party's moves to raise the profile of Islam in social life and to seek closer ties with Islamic states such as Iran.

Number-one victim of coup

Erbakan was often referred to as “number-one victim” of the Feb. 28 coup, but was also harshly criticized for not defending democracy and the rule of law during the coup period. For years, he was accused of easily leaving his post when the military forced him to resign.

According to Turkish daily Zaman, Feb. 28 was the fourth military in politics, preceded by the ones in 1960, 1971 and 1980. Not only were fatal blows dealt to fundamental rights and freedoms after Feb. 29 but also democracy and the rule of law were suspended.

The coup introduced a series of harsh restrictions on religious life, with an unofficial but widely practiced ban on the use of the Islamic headscarf. The military was purged of members with suspected ties to religious groups, a tradition still widely observed today. In addition, a number of newspapers were closed.

Despite being under political ban, Erbakan acted as a mentor and informal advisor to former RP members who founded the Virtue Party (FP) in 1997. The FP was found unconstitutional in 2001 and banned; by that time Erbakan’s ban on political activities had ended and he founded the SP, of which he was the leader in 2003-2004 and again from 2010 onwards.

In 2001, Erdogan set up the conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Despite his plump and genial-looking exterior, Erbakan was a fierce ideologue and tough political survivor who tirelessly spread Islamic and anti-Western messages.

Nicknamed “Hoca” (Master), Erbakan was born on October 29, 1926.

In 1948, he earned a degree in mechanical engineering and pursued an academic career that took him to Germany, where he later worked in Deutz factories on projects for the German army.

Erbakan entered politics in 1969, creating the pro-Islamic National Order party, which was banned in 1971.

He then founded the pro-Islamic National Salvation Party, which won 12 percent of the vote and several dozen parliamentary seats in 1973.

He served as deputy prime minister in three coalition governments in the 1970s, marked by Turkey's occupation of northern Cyprus and bloody street clashes between leftist and nationalist militants, which prompted a military coup in 1980.

The coup led to Erbakan -- and many others -- being barred from politics.

The ban was lifted in 1987, paving the way for him to become head of the Welfare Party, which he created in July 1983.

In Turkey's December 1995 elections, Welfare received 21 percent of the vote and became the largest political group in parliament. Erbakan allied with former prime minister Tansu Ciller in June 1996 to set up Turkey's first Islamist-led government