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Kemal Derviş

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Kemal Derviş
Derviş in 2006
Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme
In office
15 August 2005 – 28 February 2009
Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon
Preceded byMark Malloch Brown
Succeeded byHelen Clark
Minister of Economic Affairs
In office
13 March 2001 – 10 August 2002
Prime MinisterBülent Ecevit
Preceded byRecep Önal
Succeeded byMasum Türker
Personal details
Born(1949-01-10)10 January 1949
Istanbul, Turkey
Died8 May 2023(2023-05-08) (aged 74)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political partyRepublican People's Party
SpouseCatherine Derviş
Alma materLondon School of Economics
Princeton University (PhD)

Kemal Derviş (Turkish pronunciation: [keˈmal deɾviʃ]; 10 January 1949 – 8 May 2023) was a Turkish economist and politician who was head of the United Nations Development Programme. He was honored by the government of Japan for having "contributed to mainstreaming Japan's development assistance policy through the United Nations".[1] In 2005, he was ranked 67th in the Top 100 Public Intellectuals Poll conducted by Prospect and Foreign Policy magazines.[2][3] He was vice president and director of the global economy and development program at the Brookings Institution and part-time professor of international economics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.[4]

In March 2015, Derviş agreed to become the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey responsible for the economy in a cabinet led by Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu should his party form the government after the general election to be held in June. He declined to become a Member of Parliament however, stating that he would prefer to participate in the cabinet from outside the Parliament.[5]

Early life

Kemal Derviş was born on 10 January 1949 in Istanbul, Turkey, to an Albanian and Georgian father and a German mother.[6][7] From his father's side, he is a descendant of Ottoman Grand Vizier Halil Hamid Pasha (1736–1785); and of Ottoman military physician Asaf Derviş Pasha (1868–1928) who is regarded as the founder of modern gynaecology in Turkey.[8]

Political career

Derviş took office as Minister of State for Economic Affairs in Turkey on 13 March 2001, when Bülent Ecevit was Prime Minister.[9] Derviş was the architect of Turkey's successful three-year economic recovery program launched in that year. The health condition of elder statesman Bülent Ecevit, the Prime Minister and leader of the party led to rumours that his Deputy Prime minister and Minister of State, Hüsamettin Özkan, was plotting to replace him. As a result, Özkan was forced to resign, nearly half of DSP's parliamentarians followed him including İsmail Cem, the Minister of Foreign affairs.[10] Özkan, Zeki Eker, Cem and Kemal Derviş, the Minister of State in charge of economy, then decided to establish a new social democratic party. İsmail Cem became the leader of the New Turkey Party (2002).[11][12]

However, things started to look bad for NTP as the party showed signs of organizational weakness. Moreover, Derviş changed his mind and joined the Republican People's Party (CHP) instead.[13] As a result, the YTP performed dismally in the 2002 general election (receiving only 1.2% of the eligible votes cast)[14] and again in the 2004 local elections.[15] In October 2004, the YTP was merged into the Republican People's Party (CHP). Before being named to head the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), he was a member of the Turkish parliament, and a member of the joint commission of the Turkish and European Parliaments. He used to be a member of the Convention on the Future of Europe.[16] A member of the Advisory Group at the Center for Global Development,[17] member of the Task Force on Global Public Goods and the Special Commission on the Balkans and associated with the Economics and Foreign Policy Forum in Istanbul, Derviş was instrumental in strengthening Turkey's prospects of starting membership negotiations with the European Union.[18]

Strobe Talbott announced that Derviş joined the Brookings Institution on 30 March 2009 as vice president and director of the Global Economy and Development program.[19][20]

On 10 June 2020, he published a Project Syndicate article titled "Less Globalization, More Multilateralism."[21] Derviş was also a regular contributor to Project Syndicate from 2003 to 2023.

Studies and World Bank career

Kemal Derviş completed his early education in Institut Le Rosey. He later earned his bachelor (1968) and master's degrees (1970) in economics from the London School of Economics. He received his PhD in economics from Princeton University in 1973 after completing a doctoral dissertation titled "Substitution, employment and intertemporal equilibrium in a non-linear multi-sector planning model for Turkey."[22] From 1973 to 1976, he was member of the economics faculty of the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, and served also as an advisor to Bülent Ecevit during and after his Prime Ministerial duties. From 1976 to 1978, he was member of the faculty, Department of Economics at the Princeton University.[23] In 1977, he joined the World Bank, where he worked until he returned to Turkey in 2001. At the World Bank, he held various positions, including civision chief for industrial and trade strategy and director for the Central Europe Department after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1996, he became vice-president of the World Bank for the Middle East and North Africa Region, and in 2000, vice-president for poverty reduction and economic management.[24]

Ministry of Economic Affairs

When Derviş became Turkey's minister of economic affairs in March 2001, after a 22-year career at the World Bank, the country was facing its worst economic crisis in modern history and prospects for success were uncertain. Derviş used his independence from domestic vested interests and support of domestic reformers and civil society to push through a tough stabilization program with far-reaching structural changes and sweeping bank reforms that protected state banks from political use. Derviş also strengthened the independence of the central bank and pushed through deep structural reforms in agriculture, energy and the budget process.[25] These reforms, and his reputation and top-level contacts in the U.S. and Europe, helped him to mobilize $20 billion in new loans from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Rapid economic growth resumed in 2002 and inflation came down from an average of nearly 70 percent in the 1990s to 12 percent in 2003; interest rates fell and the exchange rate for the Turkish lira stabilized.

Derviş resigned from his ministerial position on 10 August 2002 and was elected to parliament on 3 November of that year as a member of the main opposition Republican People's Party.[26]

United Nations Development Program

On 5 May 2005, the United Nations General Assembly, representing 191 countries, unanimously confirmed Kemal Derviş as the Administrator of the United Nations Development Program, which is also the chairperson of the United Nations Development Group.[27] Derviş started his four-year term on 15 August 2005. The UNDP Administrator is the third-highest-ranking official in the United Nations, after the Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary-General.

In 2006, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Derviş to a High-level Panel on United Nations Systemwide Coherence, which was set up to explore how the United Nations system could work more coherently and effectively across the world in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and the environment.[28]

In 2009, Derviş decided not to seek a second term as Administrator of UNDP.[29]

Personal life

Kemal Derviş spoke Turkish, German, English and French fluently.[30] He was married to Catherine Derviş, an American citizen.[31]

According to press reports, when he was still single and working at the World Bank, Derviş had an affair with a married female subordinate (her identity was not revealed) who reportedly later started working at the IMF.[30] This was speculated by the media as the possible reason why Derviş, despite being seen by many as the right person for the job, decided not to become a candidate to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn as the next managing director of the IMF, a position which was eventually taken by Christine Lagarde.[30]

Kemal Derviş passed away in Washington, D.C., on 8 May 2023, at the age of 74.[32][33]

Honors

Selected works

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
  • Inequality in America: Facts, Trends and International Perspectives. 2012.
  • A Better Globalization: Legitimacy, Governance and Reform. 2008.
  • Recovery from the Crisis and Contemporary Social Democracy. 2006.
  • Dervis, Kemal; Page, John M. (1984). "Industrial Policy in Developing Countries". Journal of Comparative Economics. 8 (4). (with John M. Page, Jr.): 436–451. doi:10.1016/0147-5967(84)90040-4.
  • General Equilibrium Models for Development Policy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 1982.

References

  1. ^ a b "2009 Autumn Conferment of Decorations on Foreign Nationals" (PDF). Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
  2. ^ "The top 100 intellectuals". The Guardian. 30 September 2005. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  3. ^ "The Prospect/FP Top 100 Public Intellectuals". www.infoplease.com. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  4. ^ "Kemal Derviş - Brookings Institution". Archived from the original on 12 February 2010. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  5. ^ "CHP iktidarının başbakan yardımcısı Kemal Derviş". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  6. ^ Çongar, Yasemin. "Alçakgönüllü bir yurtsever". Milliyet. Archived from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  7. ^ Sarıkaya, Muharrem. "Derviş'e kritik soru: ABD vatandaşı mısınız?". Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  8. ^ "1978'deki raporuyla solu kızdırdı". www.hurriyet.com.tr. Archived from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  9. ^ Kutlay, Mustafa (30 December 2001). "Derviş'in 2001 bilançosu" [Derviş's 2001 balance sheet]. Hürriyet Daily News. Archived from the original on 19 December 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  10. ^ "Dışişleri Bakanı İsmail Cem istifa etti". arsiv.ntv.com.tr. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  11. ^ "'Yeni Türkiye' kuruldu". Radikal (in Turkish). Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  12. ^ ""Hükümetin düştüğünü Beyaz Saray'da gördüm"". Archived from the original on 17 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  13. ^ "Kemal Derviş Kimdir ? – Kemal Derviş Hayatı ve Biyografisi". haberler.com. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  14. ^ "2002 Seçim Sonuçları – 2002 Genel Seçim Sonuçları". haberler.com (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 30 September 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  15. ^ "İhlas Haber Ajansı – Seçim Yılı 2009 Adaylarım Sayfası". secim.iha.com.tr. Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  16. ^ "UN post for Turkish ex-minister". 27 April 2005. Archived from the original on 9 May 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2006 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  17. ^ "Advisory Group". Archived from the original on 11 October 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  18. ^ "Kemal Derviş, economist, 1949-2023". Financial Times. 9 May 2023. Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  19. ^ "Global Economy and Development - Brookings Institution". 8 July 2008. Archived from the original on 8 July 2008. Retrieved 28 November 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  20. ^ "Kemal Derviş Named Vice President and Director of Global Economy and Development at Brookings". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
  21. ^ Dervis, Kemal (10 June 2020), Less Globalization, More Multilateralism, Project Syndicate, archived from the original on 10 June 2020, retrieved 10 June 2020
  22. ^ Dervis, Kemal (1973). Substitution, employment and intertemporal equilibrium in a non-linear multi-sector planning model for Turkey. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  23. ^ "Kemal Derviş". ipc.sabanciuniv.edu.
  24. ^ "Kemal Derviş". 2 May 2016.
  25. ^ English, Duvar. "Turkey's former economy czar Kemal Derviş dies at 74". Archived from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  26. ^ Sabah, Daily (8 May 2023). "Türkiye's former Economy Minister Kemal Derviş dies at 74". Daily Sabah. Archived from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  27. ^ "The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Mourns Death of former UNDP Administrator Kemal Derviş | United Nations Development Programme". UNDP. Archived from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  28. ^ "High-level panel on UN System-wide Coherence". United Nations. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  29. ^ "Dervis thanks staff, outlines development challenges ahead". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011.
  30. ^ a b c Landon Thomas (19 May 2011). "A Cloud Over Turkish Candidate's Chances to Lead I.M.F." The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 July 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  31. ^ "Media closely monitors Catherine Dervis". Turkish Daily News. 23 May 2001. Archived from the original on 20 July 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  32. ^ "Kemal Derviş hayatını kaybetti" (in Turkish). Sözcü. 8 May 2023. Archived from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  33. ^ "Former minister lost his life at age of 74". Ankara: Hürriyet Daily News. 8 May 2023. Archived from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  34. ^ "Ministry of FA, Dervis Civil Merit". Archived from the original on 18 December 2011.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Economic Affairs
2001–2002 		Succeeded by
Positions in intergovernmental organisations
Preceded by Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme
2005–2009 		Succeeded by
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