İnönü, İsmet

İnönü, İsmet (1884-1973), president of Turkey (1938-1950), who maintained Turkish neutrality during most of World War II.

İsmet was born on September 24, 1884, in İzmir to a middle-class family. He received a military education, graduating from the general staff academy as staff captain in 1906. He served with distinction in World War I, and after the defeat of the Ottoman regime he joined nationalist forces under Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) to fight for the establishment of the Turkish republic. In 1921 he defeated a Greek invasion force in two battles in İnönü, near Eskişehir in Anatolia, and later took the name of that village as his family name. As the nationalists' foreign minister (1921-1924), he led the delegations to the Lausanne Conference (1922-1923), at which the European powers recognized Atatürk's government.

When the Turkish Republic was established in 1923, İsmet became its first premier; he was reappointed in 1925, and held the office until 1937. Elected president when Atatürk died in 1938, he kept Turkey out of World War II until 1945, when he came in on the side of the Allies, preparing for Turkey's later alignment with the West. Competitive party politics, which he inaugurated in 1946, led to İnönü's defeat at the polls four years later.

İnönü then led the opposition against the Democratic Party until the party's overthrow by the army in May 1960. After the 1961 elections he was prime minister in three coalition governments(1961-1965) before returning to the opposition. He tried to revitalize his Republican People's Party by adopting a left-of-centre image that he thought would appeal to Turkish voters of the late 1960s. Nevertheless, he failed to win re-election in 1969 and was discredited by his support of the military regime that seized power in 1971. He resigned as party chairman in 1972 but remained a senator until his death in Ankara on December 25, 1973.