İsmet İnönü

Biography

İsmet İnönü was born in Smyrna (İzmir) in 1884 and trained as an artillery officer, graduating from the Imperial School of Military Engineering in 1904 and from the Ottoman military staff college in 1906. He briefly belonged to the Committee of Union and Progress, served in Yemen, advised the delegation that negotiated the 1913 Treaty of Constantinople with Bulgaria, and in the First World War held staff and corps commands on the Caucasus and Palestine fronts.

In 1920 he joined the nationalist government in Ankara, became chief of the General Staff and commanded the Western Front, winning the two battles of İnönü from which Atatürk later gave him his surname. He led the Turkish delegations at the Mudanya armistice and, as foreign minister, at the Lausanne conference, which secured international recognition of the new state in 1923. He was prime minister for most of Atatürk's presidency, carrying out the Kemalist reforms and suppressing Kurdish revolts.

On Atatürk's death in 1938 İnönü became president and leader of the Republican People's Party. He annexed Hatay in 1939, kept Turkey out of the Second World War until its final months despite meetings with Churchill and Roosevelt, and in 1946 allowed the first multi-party elections. After his party lost power in 1950 he led the opposition for a decade, returned as prime minister from 1961 to 1965, and remained party leader until Bülent Ecevit defeated him in 1972. He died of a heart attack in 1973 and was buried at Anıtkabir in Ankara.