Süleyman Demirel

An engineer tagged early by Adnan Menderes as future leadership material, Demirel took over the Justice Party in 1964 and toppled İsmet İnönü's government the next year without even holding a parliamentary seat. He became Turkey's first premier born after the republic's founding, won back-to-back majorities in 1965 and 1969, and styled his party as heir to the banned Democrats. The 1971 coup ended his third government; he spent four years in opposition before leading two short-lived Nationalist Front coalitions in the late seventies. The 1980 coup banned him from politics entirely. He returned in 1987, took charge of the True Path Party, and won the 1991 election for a fifth premiership. When President Turgut Özal died suddenly in 1993, Demirel ran for the presidency and won, serving until 2000.