Ahmet Sezer

1941 -

Tenth president of the Republic of Turkey.

Ahmet Sezer graduated from the Faculty of Law at Ankara University in 1962, and in the same year started his career as judge in Ankara. Following the completion of his military service in the Land Forces Academy, he served as a judge in the town of Dicle and later took up assignment as a supervisory judge at the High Court of Appeals in Ankara. He was elected as a full judge to the High Court of Appeals in 1983 and appointed by the president to serve on the Constitutional Court in September 1988. Sezer was elected chief justice of the Constitutional Court in January 1998. The Turkish Grand National Assembly named him the tenth president of the Republic of Turkey on 5 May 2000.

Sezer is known for his rigid views on secularism and legalism. He has stated that secularism is a necessary condition of democracy, and he gives priority to secularism over democracy. Turkey's liberal advocates of broader civil rights have expressed deep disappointment with Sezer.

Bibliography

Zürcher, Erik J. Turkey: A Modern History, revised edition. London: I. B. Tauris, 1997.

— M. HAKAN YAVUZ