Nihat Erim was born in Kandıra to Raif Bey and Macide Hanım. After graduating from Istanbul UniversityLaw School in 1936, he studied further to earn his doctorate degree in Paris Law School in 1939.[2] He returned to Turkey to become an assistant professor in 1939 and professor in 1942 at the Ankara University School of Law.
In 1950, when CHP lost the majority in the parliament after the elections, he lost his seat and became the chief politics editor and leading writer of the newspaper "Ulus" ("Nation"). When it was closed down by the government, he went on to publish his own newspaper, "Yeni Ulus–Halkçı" ("New Nation–Populist") in 1953. In 1956, he participated at the negotiations on Cyprus in London, England. The same year, he was selected as the Turkish member of the European Commission on Human Rights to serve in this position until 1962. He led the Turkish committee on the preparation of the Cyprus constitution in 1959, following Zurich and London Agreements. He continued legally advising the Turkish committees at further negotiations on Cyprus at the United Nations.
After the military coup of 1960, once again he was elected and served as Kocaeli representative in the parliament, and this time as head of the CHP group. He was one of the focal points of internal conflicts of CHP, opposing the leader İsmet İnönü. The conflict resulted in him being ousted from the party in 1962. He was re-elected to the party's ruling committee taking second highest votes, thus joining the party again.
In Turkey, after a spree of political violence, and the coup by memorandum, the army forced the resignation of prime minister Süleyman Demirel on 12 March 1971. Nihat Erim, while still at the university, was advised to withdraw from his post in the Republican People's Party (CHP) by the National Security Council, which was then heavily influenced by the military.
Prime Minister
He was appointed a neutral and technocratic prime minister on 26 March 1971 to form a "national unity" coalition government (see 33rd government of Turkey), the first of a series of weak governments until the elections in 1973. During his tenure he ruled out the existence of another nationality living in Turkey and the Kurdish population in the country was oppressed.[3] One of the actions in regards of the Kurdish question during Erim's prime ministry was the closing down of the Workers Party of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye İşçi Partisi, TİP) for its recognition of the Kurds as a distinct ethnicity.[4]
Erim was forced to resign when 11 technocratic ministers of his cabinet resigned as a body on 3 December 1971. However, he was appointed once more by the President Cevdet Sunay, and he formed his second cabinet on 11 December 1971. He resigned on 17 April 1972 on health grounds, when his decision to promulgate decree laws was not backed by the parliament. His resignation was approved on 22 May 1972, and Ferit Melen, representative of the Van Province and minister of national defense in his cabinet, was appointed as the new prime minister and formed his own cabinet.
During his premiership, a significant contribution he made to Turkish politics was to form a ministry of culture (today in the form of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism), which was until then a mere department within the ministry of education. He appointed Talat Halman, journalist-writer, as the minister to this newly formed post. His government's prohibition of opium poppy harvesting in June 1971 under US pressure fired controversy. A change in the constitution brought together a witch hunt for leftists, reaching its peak after the abduction and killing of the Israeli ambassador Efraim Elrom in May 1971.
Erim was shot to death by two gunmen near his home in Kartal, Istanbul on 19 July 1980. Radical leftist Turkish militant group Dev Sol (Revolutionary Left) claimed responsibility for the attack.[5] The assassination might have accelerated the military coup on September 12 of that year led by chief of staffKenan Evren. The motive behind the assassination is thought to be related to the approval by the parliament of the execution of three leftist militants, one being Deniz Gezmiş, during his service as prime minister.
Erim was married to Kamile Okutman, having two children: Işık Erim and Işıl Onalp (née Erim), as well as five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.
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