Ferit Melen

Ferit Sadi Melen (2 November 1906 – 3 September 1988) was a Turkish civil servant, politician and Prime Minister of Turkey.

Ferit Melen
Melen in 1963
14th Prime Minister of Turkey
In office 22 May 1972 – 15 April 1973
President	Cevdet Sunay Fahri Korutürk
Preceded by	Nihat Erim
Succeeded by	Naim Talu
Minister of National Defense
In office 26 March 1971 – 22 May 1972
Prime Minister	Nihat Erim
Preceded by	Ahmet Topaloğlu
Succeeded by	Mehmet İzmen
In office 31 March 1975 – 21 June 1977
Prime Minister	Süleyman Demirel
Preceded by	İlhami Sancar
Succeeded by	Hasan Esat Işık
Minister of Finance
In office 25 June 1962 – 20 February 1965
Prime Minister	İsmet İnönü
Preceded by	Şefik İnan
Succeeded by	İhsan Gürsan
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office 6 November 1983 – 29 November 1987
In office 27 October 1957 – 27 May 1960
In office 14 May 1950 – 2 May 1954
Constituency	Van (1950, 1957, 1983)
Personal details
Born	2 November 1906 Van, Ottoman Empire
Died	3 September 1988 (1988-09-04) (aged 81)
Political party	Republican People's Party (1950–1967) Reliance Party (1967–1971) National Reliance Party (1973–1973) Republican Reliance Party (1973–1980) Nationalist Democracy Party (1983–1986)
Children	2, including Mithat Melen
Alma mater	Ankara University

Biography

After graduating from high school in Bursa, he obtained a degree in finance from the School of Political Science at Ankara University in 1931. Ferit Melen entered the state service right after his graduation, and was sent to Paris, France, for an internship at the Ministry of Finance there. After one year, he returned home and worked in several services of the Ministry of Finance as an inspector. In 1943, he was promoted to general director in the ministry.

Ferit Melen entered politics as a deputy from Van Province from the Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP) following the 1950 general election. After the end of the legislative term, he did not run for the parliament in the 1954 election, and he returned to his profession to work as a chartered accountant. He practiced until his retirement in 1959. In 1957, he was elected once again to the parliament as deputy from Van.

Finance Minister Melen with U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ekrem Alican and Turkish ambassador Turgut Menemencioğlu in White House, Washington, D.C.

Ferit Melen was minister of finance in the two cabinets of İsmet İnönü between 25 June 1962 and 20 February 1965 in the 27th and 28th governments without affiliation to the parliament. He left his party CHP along with 47 other colleagues to co-found on 12 May 1967 "Güven Partisi" GP ("Reliance Party"), which was renamed Republican Reliance Party (Cumhuriyetçi Güven Partisi, CGP) after merging with "Cumhuriyetçi Parti" CP ("Republican Party") on 28 February 1973. He also served as minister of national defense in the cabinet of Nihat Erim from 26 March 1971 to 22 May 1972. Following the resignation of Nihat Erim, he was appointed prime minister of a military-approved coalition government that lasted until 15 April 1973. Between 31 March 1975 and 21 June 1977, he served a second time as minister of national defense in the cabinet of Süleyman Demirel.

In the time from 7 June 1964 to 14 October 1979, Ferit Melen was a member of the senate representing Van Province. On 12 July 1980, he was appointed again senator that ended on 12 September 1980 with the military coup. Ferit Melen was elected to Turkish Grand National Assembly in the 1983 elections as a candidate of the Nationalist Democracy Party (MDP).

He was succeeded by his son Mithat Melen, a former high ranked civil servant and academics, who in 2002 tried to enter politics with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

The airport of Van is named after him.

See also

• Biyografi.info - Biography of Ferit Melen (in Turkish)
• Terms of office
• Merging of GP with CP at the Wayback Machine (archived April 16, 2003) (in Turkish)