Mümtaz Soysal

Prof. Dr. Mümtaz Soysal MP
30th Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 27 July 1994 – 28 November 1994
Prime Minister	Tansu Çiller
Preceded by	Hikmet Çetin
Succeeded by	Murat Karayalçın
Member of the Constituent Assembly as a representative of the CHP
In office 6 January 1961 – 25 October 1961
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office 20 October 1991 – 22 March 1999 (resign)
Constituency	Ankara from SHP (1991), Zonguldak from DSP (1995)
1st Chairman of the Independent Republican Party
In office 24 July 2002 – April 2014
Preceded by	Inaugural holder
Succeeded by	Mühibe Müge Gülses
Personal details
Born	Osman Mümtaz Soysal (1929-09-15) 15 September 1929 Zonguldak, Turkey
Political party	Republican People's Party (CHP) Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) Democratic Left Party (DSP) Independent Republican Party (BCP)
Other political affiliations	Yön movement Socialist Cultural Association Amnesty International
Spouse(s)	Sevgi Soysal ​ ​ (m. 1971; died 1976)​ Sevinç Karasapan Soysal
Alma mater	Ankara University Faculties of Political Sciences and Law London School of Economics
Occupation	Constitution writing, conflict resolution, foreign policy, human rights, statism, anti-privatisation
Profession	Academic, jurist, politician, author
Awards	UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education (1978)

Osman Mümtaz Soysal (born September 15, 1929) is a Turkish professor of constitutional law, political scientist, Kemalist politician, human rights activist, ex-prisoner of conscience, senior advisor, columnist and author.

Mümtaz Soysal served as the 30th Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1994. He was a Member of Parliament at Constituent Assembly in 1961 and Grand National Assembly from 1991 to 1999.

He actively contributed to constitutions of Turkey (1961) and the DR Congo (2006). He was constitutional advisor of the President of Northern Cyprus Rauf Denktaş.

He elected to Amnesty International International Executive Committee in September 1974 as the first Turkish and the first ex-prisoner of conscience member ever. He served as the vice-chairman of Amnesty International from 1976 to 1978. He became the first winner of the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education in 1978.

As a hardline Kemalist statist, Mümtaz Soysal persistently worked against privatisation policies and initiatives of Turkish governments, especially in the 1990s. He founded Center for Development of Public Enterprise in April 1994, and the organisation was converted to a foundation in 1996.

Mümtaz Soysal was members of the Republican People's Party, the Social Democratic Populist Party and the Democratic Left Party. In 2002, he founded the Independent Republican Party with many academics and served as the first chairman of the party from 2002 to 2014.

Career

He was born on 15 September 1929 in Zonguldak, Turkey to Osman Muhtar, a naval kol aghassi and his wife Samiye. He was a Professor of Constitutional Law at Ankara University for many years. He is also one of the founders of Yön, a political magazine founded in 1961. After the 1971 Turkish coup d'état he was detained for some months, and was listed as an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience. In 1974, he became the first former prisoner of conscience to serve on the International Executive Committee of Amnesty International.

Personal life

He was married to Sevgi Soysal (till her death in 1976). Later he married with Sevinç Karasapan Soysal. He has two daughters, Defne (1973) and Funda (1975) and two step-sons.

External links

• Who is Who database - Biography of Prof. Dr. Mümtaz Soysal Template:Tr icon
• Biyografi.net - Biography of Mümtaz Soysal Template:Tr icon