BY OKTAY EKSI
HURRIYET- A legend of Turkish politics passed away last night. Former Prime minister Bulent Ecevit died at the age of 81. He spent 49 years of his life serving his nation. He was an honest politician. He is one of the few who didn't give up even when facing the most desperate conditions.
Ecevit was a man who could risk his life for his beliefs. There was once an assassination attempt on Ecevit when he was campaigning in Izmir . Another attempt took place in the US when he visited the country as prime minister. A radical Greek tried to kill him. In 1977 when he was leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), then Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel warned him of an assassination plot in Istanbul 's Taksim Square . Ecevit went there despite the warnings, and nobody could dissuade him.
It was a very serious issue to intervene in Cyprus in 1974, and he made this decision and carried it through. Later, after the 1971 military intervention in the administration, Ecevit said that he wouldn't cooperate with this and resigned from his post as CHP secretary general. He was against the military government after the Sept. 12, 1980 coup and put out a magazine to express his view. He was put in prison twice due to his statements, but he never gave up defending his position. His Democratic Left Party (DSP), which he founded with the help of his wife when he was barred from public life, ended up bringing him to power again as party leader between 1999 and 2002. He was not only a courageous and patient man, but also a man of great abilities. That's why we'll continue to talk about him. I'd like to be one of the first to express my condolences and pay my respects to him.