Şükrü Saracoğlu

Şükrü Saracoğlu
5th Prime Minister of Turkey
In office 9 July 1942 – 7 August 1946
President	İsmet İnönü
Preceded by	Ahmet Fikri Tüzer
Succeeded by	Recep Peker
7th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly
In office 1 November 1948 – 22 May 1950
President	İsmet İnönü
Prime Minister	Hasan Saka Şemsettin Günaltay
Preceded by	Ali Fuat Cebesoy
Succeeded by	Refik Koraltan
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office 28 June 1923 – 14 May 1950
Constituency	Izmir (1923, 1927, 1931, 1935, 1939, 1943, 1946)
Personal details
Born	Mehmet Şükrü 17 June 1887 Ödemiş, Ottoman Empire
Died	27 December 1953(1953-12-27) (aged 66) Istanbul, Turkey
Political party	Republican People's Party (CHP)
Spouse	Saadet Saracoğlu
Alma mater	Mekteb-i Mülkiye University of Geneva
Signature

Mehmet Şükrü Saracoğlu (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈʃycɾy saɾaˈdʒoːɫu]; 17 June 1887, in Ödemiş – 27 December 1953, in Istanbul) was a Turkish politician, the fifth prime minister of Turkey and the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs during the early stages of World War II. He signed the German–Turkish Treaty of Friendship in 1941, which would prevent Turkish involvement in the war. He was also the chairman of the Turkish sports club Fenerbahçe S.K. for 16 years between 1934 and 1950, including holding that post concurrently with his time as Prime Minister from 1942 to 1946.

Early life

Şükrü Saracoğlu in his early days

Born in Ödemiş in the Ottoman Empire in 1887, Mehmet Şükrü was the son of Saraç Mehmet Tevfik Usta who was from Akçaabat, Trabzon. He completed primary and middle school in Ödemiş and high school in the prestigious İzmir Atatürk Lisesi in İzmir and graduated from the School of Civil Service (Mekteb-i Mülkiye) halla in 1909.

For a while, he worked as officer of attendance and performed as mathematics teacher in İzmir High School in Sultaniye. In 1915, he studied in the Academy of Political Sciences in Geneva, Switzerland, for the account of İzmir.

During the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22) (the Western Front of the larger Turkish War of Independence), he returned to Turkey and fought in the region of Kuşadası, Aydın, and Nazilli.

Political career

He was elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey from İzmir in 1923. He was appointed as Minister of National Education in the cabinet of Prime Minister Fethi Okyar. He then presided over the Commission for Composite Population Exchange, which would conduct the negotiations with the Greek government later on. He was appointed as the Minister of Finance in the cabinet formed by Prime Minister İsmet Pasha (İnönü). After resigning, he was sent to the United States to complete some contacts about economic issues in 1931 and presided over the board going to the Paris Treaty of 1933 to solve the Ottoman public debt issue. In 1933, he reentered Cabinet as the Minister of Justice and performed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the second cabinet of Prime Minister Celal Bayar.

After the 1934 Surname Law, which required all Turkish citizens to adopt a surname, Mehmet Şükrü took on the surname "Saracoğlu", meaning "son of Saraç", Saraç being the epithet of his father.

In the closing days of World War II, he took part in the negotiations with the Soviet Union in Moscow for months.

Upon the death of Refik Saydam in 1942, he was assigned as the Prime Minister and resigned because of illness. He was elected as the President of the Grand National Assembly in 1948 and remained until 1950.

Later life

Saracoğlu, who retired from political life in 1950, was fluent in French and English. He was married and had three children.

He died on 27 December 1953.

The home of the Turkish football club Fenerbahçe, Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, is named after him.

• 
  Şükrü Saracoğlu during the opening ceremony of the Fenerbahçe Stadium in 1934
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  Şükrü Saracoğlu with his wife
• 
  The grave of Şükrü Saracoğlu in Istanbul

See also

• 13th government of Turkey

References

• Biography, Biyografi.info (in Turkish)
• BASVEKIL SUKRU SARACOGLU'NDAN ANILAR (in Turkish)

External links

• Newspaper clippings about Şükrü Saracoğlu in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW