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Cardiac and respiratory insufficiency were reported to be the main cause behind Erbakan’s death.
The legendary leader of his political movement, National View Milli Görüş, Erbakan was re-elected as the head of the Felicity Party (SP) after a troublesome competition within the party last year. After the 1997 coup d’état, his ruling RP was banned by the courts and Erbakan was barred from active politics for a temporary period of time.
Feb. 28 was the fourth military in politics, preceded by the ones in 1960, 1971 and 1980. Not only were fatal blows dealt to fundamental rights and freedoms after Feb. 29 but also democracy and the rule of law were suspended. The coup introduced a series of harsh restrictions on religious life, with an unofficial but widely practiced ban on the use of the Islamic headscarf. The military was purged of members with suspected ties to religious groups, a tradition still widely observed today. In addition, a number of newspapers were closed.
Despite being under political ban, Erbakan acted as a mentor and informal advisor to former RP members who founded the Virtue Party (FP) in 1997. The FP was found unconstitutional in 2001 and banned; by that time Erbakan’s ban on political activities had ended and he founded the SP, of which he was the leader in 2003-2004 and again from 2010 onwards.
A mechanical engineer by profession, Erbakan entered politics in 1969. Since then, he was an important political figure who influenced Turkish politics.
He was often referred to as “number-one victim” of the Feb. 28 coup, but was also harshly criticized for not defending democracy and the rule of law during the coup period. For years, he was accused of easily leaving his post when the military forced him to resign.
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