33rd government of Turkey

The 33rd government of Turkey (26 March 1971 – 11 December 1971) was a government in the history of Turkey. It is also called the first Erim government.

Nihat Erim

Background

After the memorandum of the army on 12 March 1971, prime minister Süleyman Demirel of the Justice Party (AP) resigned, and a new government was founded by Nihat Erim, who had recently resigned from the Republican People's Party (CHP). However, his appointment caused unrest in CHP and Bülent Ecevit resigned from his post as the general secretary of his party to protest the appointment. Nevertheless, İsmet İnönü, the leader of the party, supported Nihat Erim and Erim formed a semi-technocratic government with the support of CHP, AP, and the National Reliance Party (MGP).

The government

In the list below, the serving period of cabinet members who served only a part of the cabinet's lifespan are shown in the column "Notes".

Title[1][2][3]	Name	Party	Notes
Prime Minister	Nihat Erim	Independent
Deputy Prime Minister
	Sadi Koçaş	CHP
	Atilla Karaosmanoğlu Mesut Erez	Independent	26 March 1971 – 3 Dec 1971 3 Dec 1971 – 11 Dec 1971
Minister of State
	Mehmet Özgüneş	Independent
	Doğan Kitaplı	AP	26 March 1971 – 13 Oct 1971
Ministry of Justice	İsmail Arar	CHP
Ministry of National Defense	Ferit Melen	CGP
Ministry of the Interior	Hamdi Ömeroğlu	Independent
Ministry of Foreign Affairs	Osman Olcay	Independent
Ministry of Finance and Customs	Sait Naci Elgin	Independent
Ministry of National Education	Şinasi Orel	Independent
Ministry of Public Works	Cavit Karakaş Mukadder Öztekin	AP CHP	26 March 1971 – 10 Nov 1971 10 Nov 1971 – 11 Dec 1971
Ministry of Construction and Settlement	Selahattin Babüroğlu	Independent	(Except for a 13-day duration in October)
Ministry of Health and Social Security	Türkan Akyol	Independent
Ministry of Agriculture	Orhan Dikmen	Independent
Ministry of Village Affairs	Cevdet Aykan	Independent
Ministry of Forestry	Selahattin İnal	Independent
Ministry of Transport	Haluk Arık Selahattin Babüroğlu Cahit Karakaş	Independent Independent CHP	26 March 1971 – 29 Sep 1971 13 Oct 1971 – 27 Oct 1971 10 Nov 1971 – 11 Dec 1971
Ministry of Labour	Atilla Sav	Independent	(Except for 13 day duration in October)
Ministry of Foreign Commerce	Özer Derbil	Independent
Ministry of Industry and Technology	Ayhan Çilingiroğlu	Independent
Ministry of Customs and Monopolies	Haydar Özalp	AP
Ministry Tourism	Erol Yılmaz Akçal	AP
Ministry of Culture	Talat Halman	Independent
Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources	İhsan Topaloğlu Atilla Sav Nezih Devres	CHP	26 March 1970 – 29 Sep 1971 13 Oct 1971 – 27 Oct 1971 10 Nov 1971 – 11 Dec 1971
Ministry of Youth and Sports	Sezai Ergun	AP

Aftermath

Some of the technocrats in the cabinet (like Atilla Karaosmanoğlu) resigned, and Nihat Erim decided to form a new government.

Trivia

Türkan Akyol, the Minister of Health, was the very first Turkish female cabinet minister in the history of Turkey.

References

1. Official page of prime minister Archived May 15, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
2. Official page of the parliament
3. Türkiye'nin 75 Yılı, Tempo Yayıncılık, Istanbul, 1998