Bedrettin Dalan

Bedrettin Dalan (born 1941) is a Turkish engineer, former politician and the first mayor of Greater Istanbul. He is the founder of "İSTEK Vakfı", a foundation for education and culture, and Yeditepe University in Istanbul.

Biography

Bedrettin Dalan was born in 1941 in Eskişehir, Turkey to a family, which came from a village of Bayburt Province in the eastern Anatolia to work for the Turkish State Railways. After finishing the high school in Germencik, Aydin, where he lived with his family in retirement and seven siblings, Dalan attended the Faculty of Maçka at the Istanbul Technical University, and graduated in 1963 with a degree in electrical engineering.

In 1983, he joined Turgut Özal to found a center-right party, the Motherland Party (Anavatan Partisi, ANAP). Dalan was elected mayor of Greater İstanbul that was established as a metropolitan municipality on March 23, 1984. He served at this position from March 26, 1984 until March 28, 1989. During this time, he set up the principals of the metropolitan municipality system in Turkey, and invested in the infrastructure of the ever-expanding city of İstanbul such as the sewer system, transportation and recreation areas. The blue-eyed politician is best remembered for his promise "the waters of the Golden Horn will have the same color of my eyes". [ [http://www.izedebiyat.com/yazi.asp?id=6136 İzEdebiyat ] ] He served as deputy chairman of the World Local Governments Union and as president of the Organization of the Capitals and Cities of Islamic Countries and also of the World Metropolitans Union.

After losing his post to the candidate of the left-wing party in the regional elections of 1989, he founded his own party, the Democratic Center Party (Demokrat Merkez Partisi, DMP) on May 17, 1990, and became its leader. The DMP merged on September 14, 1991 with the right-wing, conservative party of Süleyman Demirel, the True Path Party (Doğru Yol Partisi, DYP). In the general elections held that year, he ran for the membership of the parliament, and was elected deputy of İstanbul Province. After serving one term in the parliament, he finally quit politics.

Bedrettin Dalan worked as top executive in some companies, and lectured at Marmara University and Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts. Dedicating himself to education, he founded İstanbul Eğitim ve Kültür Vakfı (İSTEK Vakfı), a foundation, which opened a number of prestigious private educational institutions in İstanbul such as primary and secondary schools, middle and high schools. In 1996, the foundation established a university in İstanbul, the Yeditepe University. Bedrettin Dalan is acting as the president of the board of trustees of the foundation.

He is married to Ayseli Dalan and they have two sons, Barış and Altay Burak.

Bibliography

* "Haliç. Neydi, Ne Oldu?" ("Golden Horn. What Was It? What Did It Become?)"

References

* [http://www.oncevatan.com.tr/ADetay.asp?yazar=8&yz=4984 Newspaper "Vatan"] tr icon

References