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Suphi Baykam

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Suphi Baykam
Personal details
Born1926
Adana, Turkey
Died21 June 1996(1996-06-21) (aged 69–70)
Political partyRepublican People's Party
SpouseMutahhar Baykam
Children2
Alma materIstanbul University
OccupationPhysician

Suphi Baykam (1926–1996) was a Turkish physician and politician from the Republican People's Party (CHP). He served at the Parliament for three terms.

Early life and education

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He was born in Adana in 1926.[1] His father worked as a teacher and then as a tax official.[1]

He graduated from of the School of Medicine, Istanbul University in 1950.[2] He was also educated at Institute of Public Administration for Turkey and the Middle East in 1955 and at the Radiology Institute in 1956.[2]

Baykam served as the president of the Turkish National Student Union between 1948 and 1950 while attending the School of Medicine.[2][3] During his term the Union adopted a Kemalist approach unlike its previous ideology of nationalism.[1]

Career and activities

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Baykam worked at the student dormitories until 1951 when he was dismissed by the Ministry of Education due to his criticisms against the ruling Democrat Party (DP).[1] Then he left political activity and worked as a physician in Karaman.[1] Following his return to Ankara in 1953 he began to work as a medical assistant at the School of Medicine of Ankara University.[4] The same year he also joined the CHP.[1] He became the first head of the youth branch of the CHP on 17 February 1954.[4][5] He was dismissed from his assistantship when he was involved in the CHP's propaganda activities before the general election in 1954.[4] The DP government also cancelled the three-year scholarship awarded by the World Health Organization to Baykam.[4]

Baykam was elected as the head of the Ankara Medical Chamber in 1957.[2] The same year he was elected as a deputy from his hometown for the CHP and served at the Parliament during the 11th term.[5] He became a member of the CHP's council in the 14th congress on 12 January 1959.[6] Following the military coup on 27 May 1960 a Constituent Assembly was formed. Baykam was a representative of the CHP at the Assembly.[5]

Baykam was elected as a deputy from İstanbul in the elections of 1961 and 1965.[5] During this period he was the vice general secretary of the CHP and a member of the left of center group.[7] He was again elected as a member of the CHP's council in the congress held in October 1964.[6]

While serving at the Parliament he developed the first law to improve Turkish cinema which is known as the Baykam Law Proposal.[8] After the end of his term at the Parliament he retired from politics.[9]

Views

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For Baykam Kemalism was the opposite of wild capitalism, racism, communism, and reaction.[1] He was instrumental in the development of the concepts such as Left of Center (Turkish: Ortanın Solu) and land reform (Turkish: Toprak Reformu) which were very crucial in the reorganization of the CHP.[9]

Personal life and death

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Baykam married Mutahhar Baykam in 1952.[2] She was an architect.[10] They had two children, a daughter and a son, Bedri Baykam.[10]

Baykam died on 21 June 1996.[5]

Legacy

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Alptekin Gündüz published a book in memory of Suphi Baykam in 2004.[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Reuben Silverman (2019). "Republican People's Party People: Partisan Polarization in the Republic of Turkey, 1950–1953". The Middle East Journal. 73 (1): 81, 88. JSTOR 26933034.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Suphi Baykam". biyografya.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  3. ^ Joseph S. Szyliowicz (1970). "Students and Politics in Turkey". Middle Eastern Studies. 6 (2): 156. JSTOR 4282321.
  4. ^ a b c d Asil Kaya (2010). Türk siyasi tarihinde CHP'nin gençlik kolları (MA thesis). Dokuz Eylül University. pp. 73, 82.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Suphi Baykam biyografisi". biyografi.net (in Turkish). Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  6. ^ a b Gökhan Göktürk (2012). 1946-1980 Yılları Arasında Siyaset Sosyolojisi Açısından Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (PhD thesis) (in Turkish). Istanbul University. pp. 297, 369.
  7. ^ Yunus Emre (2007). The genesis of the left of center in Turkey: 1965-1967 (MA thesis). Boğaziçi University. pp. 93, 126.
  8. ^ Serkan Şavk (2023). "The Growth of the Turkish Film Industry and the Death of Suphi Kaner: Articulating a Star's Suicide to the History of Labour in Cinema". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 44: 5. doi:10.1080/01439685.2023.2256126.
  9. ^ a b c "En Sevdiği Güneşti; Dr. Suphi Baykam'ın Fırtınalı Yaşamı". imge.com.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  10. ^ a b "Bedri Baykam biyografisi". biyografi.net. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
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