Cem Toker

Cem Toker (born July 5, 1957), is a Turkish politician and the former leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Turkey (Turkish: Liberal Demokrat Parti, LDP). He was elected in the fourth ordinary party congress on June 20, 2005.

Cem Toker
6th President of the Liberal Democratic Party
In office 20 June 2005 – 29 January 2017
Preceded by	Hakan Çizem
Succeeded by	Gültekin Tırpancı
Personal details
Born	July 5, 1957 Istanbul
Political party	LDP
Alma mater	Arizona State University

Early life and career

Toker was born in 1957 in Istanbul. He graduated from British College, İstanbul and then earned his bachelor in economics from Arizona State University.

He worked in finance sector and formed a company on international consultancy, guidance and language services.

Toker is single and has no children.

Political career

His political career in the LDP started in 1996. Toker served as an executive and the chairman of Istanbul branch of LDP, He also served as the party's deputy secretary-general and secretary-general. From 2003 to 2005, he served as the deputy chairman of LDP. He has been elected as the president of the party for the first time at the 4th ordinary congress of LDP in June 2005.[1] He has been reelected twice in March 2008 and October 2010.[2][3]

He is the architect of the LDP led umbrella alliance offer in 2006.[4] He offered an alliance to 9 political parties both from left and right (including Anavatan and Demokratik Sol Parti) for the basic values of republic against governing conservative party, AKP. The offer was still a possibility in 2007 and in 2011 elections.[5] In January 2017 he announced he's stepping down as party leader and trespassing the leadership to Gültekin Tırpancı.[6]

References

1. "LDP Cem Toker´i Genel Başkan seçti" [LDP elects Cem Toker for Presidency]. Haber 7 (in Turkish). 2005-06-21. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
2. "Cem Toker yeniden LDP Başkanı" [Cem Toker is the LDP President again]. Hurriyet Avrupa (in Turkish). Hürriyet. 2008-03-31. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
3. Mintaz, Metin (October 4, 2010). "Cem Toker 3. Kez Genel Başkanlığa Seçildi" [Cem Toker has been elected for the 3rd time] (in Turkish). Bilgi Agi. Archived from the original on April 14, 2015. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
4. Süter, Şakir (November 2, 2006). "LDP'den ittifak" [Alliance from LDP] (in Turkish). Akşam. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
5. Ataklı, Can (March 8, 2007). "Cumhuriyet için birlikte ilk ses" [First Sound at Alliance for Republic] (in Turkish). Vatan. Archived from the original on 2007-03-10. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
6. TM. "Cem Toker steps down as LDP leader - Turkish Minute". Retrieved 2019-11-03.