Erdal İnönü in Turkish political life

Born in 1926 as the son of a president, Erdal İnönü went to the United States to study after his educational life in Ankara. After his master's and doctorate in physics, İnönü, who has been doing some scientific studies in the USA, returned to Turkey in 1952 and started to work as an assistant at Ankara University. Erdal İnönü, who went back to the United States as an associate professor in 1957, returned to Turkey in 1960 after his researches there and started working at Middle East Technical University as a professor. He held various positions at this university, including dean and rector until 1974, and worked at Bosphorus University between 1974 and 1983. During Erdal İnönü's time at Bosphorus University, the September 12, 1980 Coup was carried out and existing political parties were closed and many politicians were banned. Erdal İnönü was invited to politics as a unifying figure because the Populist Party, which was considered to replace one of the closed parties, the Republican People's Party, was not sufficiently adopted by CHP circles. İnönü, who initially rejected the offer not taking it seriously, then reconsidered his decision and agreed to enter politics thinking that he was really needed. Following this decision, İnönü resigned from his position at the university in the spring of 1983 and founded a party called the Social Democracy Party, but many of its founders, especially Erdal İnönü, were vetoed and prevented from running in the 1983 elections. After the 1983 elections in which no party other than the Motherland Party, the People's Party and the Nationalist Democracy Party were allowed to enter, SODEP was allowed to form after the 1983 elections resulted in ANAP's rule alone, and SODEP had its first electoral experience with local elections in 1984. In this election, where ANAP won again, SODEP became the second party and this party, which is not in parliament, became publicly perceived as the main opposition party. In 1985, it was combined with a model developed by SODEP and HP, Erdal İnönü and the Social Democratic People's Party emerged. Erdal İnönü, who entered the Parliament as a Member of Parliament in 1986 as the leader of this new party, continued to serve as the main opposition as a result of the elections held in 1987. Erdal İnönü achieved the greatest success of his political career in the 1989 local elections. In this election, SHP won municipalities in many major cities as the first party. In the general elections in 1991, SHP, the third party after DYP and ANAP, formed a coalition with the DYP and became a partner in power, although it did not get the result it expected. Erdal İnönü, who served as deputy prime minister in this coalition, left his post as deputy prime minister in 1993 when Suleyman Demirel became President. İnönü, who also stepped down as leader of his party in the same year, last served as foreign minister for a period of 6 months in 1995 and withdrew completely from politics. Returning to his scientific activities after 1995, İnönü thought about entering politics again in the early 2000s, but gave up on this decision shortly after. Erdal İnönü died in 2007 in the United States, where he was treated.