ANKARA, July 25 (AFP) - Turkey's former prime minister Bulent Ecevit, who ordered the invasion of Cyprus in 1974, left the helm of his Democratic Left Party (DSP) on Sunday, ending a decades-long stormy political career.
The ailing 79-year-old leader's decision to quit active politics follows the defeat of his party following early general elections in November 2003 in which the DSP failed to win a single parliamentary seat after nearly four years in power.
"Let us trust ourselves and our qualities. We will come back to power again through solidarity. We have to," Ecevit said in his farewell speech to a party congress, the Anatolia news agency reported.
His speech was preceded by a documentary on the 50-year political career of the five-time prime minister which includes Turkey's invasion of northern Cyprus in 1974, the capture of Turkey's number one public enemy, Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999 and the European Union's acceptance of Turkey as a formal candidate for membership the same year.
He also witnessed two military coups, in 1971 and 1980, served jail time in the early 1980s for his opposition to military rule and was was banned from politics for 10 years.
While he was behind bars, his wife, Rahsan, set up the DSP in 1985 and chaperoned it until Ecevit was allowed to make a comeback under an amnesty in 1987.
His last term in power during 1999-2003 saw the country plunge into its worst recessions in decades and a political crisis after Ecevit was hospitalized and his coalition government lost its majority through mass resignations.
Ecevit was forced to call early elections in November 2003 in which the DSP only garnered 1.2 percent of the vote and was left outside parliament -- the electorate's response to the economic crisis.
In Sunday's congress, some 950 DSP delegates will vote to choose Ecevit's heir from among six candidates.