Word: ozal
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...rulers, a careful experiment in guided democracy veered slightly out of control last week. In the nation's first elections since the armed forces took power in 1980, the wrong man won-at least in the eyes of the military. The victor and new Prime Minister was Turgut Ozal, 56, a portly, easygoing former engineer whose conservative Motherland Party romped home with 45% of the 18.3 million votes and 211 seats in the 400-member Grand National Assembly. Said Hasan Esat Isik, a former Minister of Defense: "The Turkish people have shown they do not want guided or even...
...Ozal's electoral victory hardly represented a challenge to a regime whose consititution, approved in a landslide referendum last year, has strengthened Evren's presidential powers. Most Turks remain deeply grateful for the 1980 military intervention, which ended a nightmarish period of political terrorism, parliamentary paralysis and economic chaos. For his part, Ozal quickly showed his eagerness to cooperate fully with Evren and the four other senior military officers on the ruling National Security Council. In his first statement to the nation after the vote, Ozal hanked the Turkish armed forces for 'their efforts to establish...
...Ozal, however, may be just the kind of new blood that Turkey needs. He and his chief aides are technocrats who want to apply the best computer-age methods to politics. Ozal's greatest appeal to the voters lay in his record in dealing with the economy. As an undersecretary in the last civilian government, and subsequently Deputy Prime Minister in the military administration, he orchestrated an austerity program from 1980 to 1982 that brought inflation down to 30%, from an annual rate of 120%, while tripling the value of Turkish exports. In the future, Ozal told TIME Correspondent...
Within 24 hours of his own appointment by the junta, the new Prime Minister, Bülent Ulusu, 57, a retired admiral, presented a "nonpolitical," 27-member cabinet that gave the seven key ministries to retired army officers. However, Economist Turgut Ozal, author of an austerity program that deposed Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel had pushed through parliament earlier this year, was named Deputy Prime Minister. It was a clear sign that the military intends to give the ailing Turkish economy top priority...
...hopeful sign, on the other hand, was that the regime's tight new controls seemed to be winning the confidence of Turkey's Western financial backers. Two U.S. loans totaling $145 million that had been negotiated by the Demirel government went ahead on schedule; Deputy Prime Minister Ozal flew to Washington to sign the notes...