Recep Peker

{{Short description|6th Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey from 1946 to 1947}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Recep Peker

| image = Recep peker.jpg

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1889|02|05}}

| birth_place = Istanbul, Ottoman Empire

| birth_name = Mehmet Recep

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1950|04|01|1889|02|05}}

| death_place = Istanbul, Turkey

| resting_place = Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery, Istanbul

| office = 6th Prime Minister of Turkey

| term_start = 7 August 1946

| term_end = 10 September 1947

| predecessor = Şükrü Saraçoğlu

| successor = Hasan Saka

| president = İsmet İnönü

| office1 = Minister of the Interior

| primeminister1 = Şükrü Saracoğlu

| term_start1 = 17 August 1942

| term_end1 = 20 May 1943

| predecessor1 = Ahmet Fikri Tüzer

| successor1 = Hilmi Uran

| primeminister2 = Fethi Okyar

| term_start2= 21 May 1924

| term_end2= 5 January 1925

| predecessor2= Ahmet Ferit Tek

| successor2= Mehmet Cemil Uybadın

| office3 = Minister of National Education

| primeminister3 = İsmet İnönü

| term_start3 = 7 April 1929

| term_end3 = 10 April 1929

| predecessor3 = Hüseyin Vasıf Çınar

| successor3 = Cemal Hüsnü Taray

| office4 = Minister of Public Works

| primeminister4 = İsmet İnönü

| term_start4= 15 October 1928

| term_end4= 27 September 1930

| predecessor4= Behiç Erkin

| successor4= Zekai Apaydın

| office5 = Minister of National Defense

| primeminister5 = İsmet İnönü

| term_start5= 4 March 1925

| term_end5= 1 November 1927

| predecessor5= Fethi Okyar

| successor5= Abdülhalik Renda

| office6 = Minister of Finance

| primeminister6 = İsmet İnönü

| term_start6= 21 May 1924

| term_end6= 22 November 1924

| predecessor6= Abdülhalik Renda

| successor6= Abdülhalik Renda

|office7 = {{GNAT MP}}

|term_start7 = 28 June 1923

|term_end7 = 1 April 1950

|constituency7 = Kütahya (1923, 1927, 1931, 1935, 1939, 1943, 1946)

| alma_mater = Ottoman Military Academy
Ottoman Military College

| occupation = Army officer, politician

| party = Republican People's Party (CHP)

| spouse =

| children =

}}

Mehmet Recep Peker ({{IPA|tr|mehˈmet ɾeˈdʒep peˈcæɾ}}; 5 February 1889 – 1 April 1950) was a Turkish military officer and politician. A heavy-handed modernist,{{Cite book |last=Uzer |first=Umut |title=An Intellectual History of Turkish Nationalism |publisher=The University of Utah Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1607814658}} he served in various ministerial posts and finally as the Prime Minister of Turkey between 1946 and 1947.

Early life

Born in Istanbul on 5 February 1889, his father was named Mustafa and was of Lezgi descent,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DqJpAAAAMAAJ|title=Dr. Rıza Nur dosyası|last1=Özakman|first1=Turgut|last2=Nur|first2=Rıza|date=1995-01-01|publisher=Bilgi yayınevi|isbn=9789754945157|language=tr}} migrated to Anatolia from the Dagestan region of the Caucasus.

He studied at the Military College following his graduation from the Kuleli Military High School, where he enrolled after completing his primary and secondary education at Koca Mustafa Pasha Primary School and Military Middle School. After finishing the academy in the rank of a lieutenant in 1907, he was assigned to the staff officer class.

Recep Peker took part at the battles of YemenÖzkaya, Ahmet. Recep Peker'in Kişiliği ve İdeolojilere Bakışı and Libya, Balkan Wars, Thrace and Caucasus campaigns of the World War I. He graduated in 1919, as the first of his class, from the Staff College to which he entered in 1911.

At the second half of 1919, he served as assistant teacher of history of war at the Military Academy. He joined the Turkish War of Independence in Anatolia as a squadron leader on the 4th of February 1920.

Politics

He was appointed secretary general of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 23 April 1920, the day the parliament was opened. He served in this position more than three years.

In the time between his appointment as the parliament's secretary general until the Battle of Sakarya, he served in addition as the chief of Second Branch Office at the General Staff. On 12 July 1923, he was re-elected into the parliament as the deputy from Kütahya.

He was the Minister of Finance between 6 March and 22 November 1924, and Minister of Interior and on commission the Minister of Barter and Minister of Development and Housing. Peker was appointed as the Minister of National Defence on 4 March 1926, and the Minister of Public Works in 1927. He was elected the parliamentary group spokesman and secretary general of the Republican People's Party (CHP) in 1928.

Recep Peker initiated the introduction of the "History of the Revolution" in the school curricula. He taught Republican Ideology at universities in Ankara and Istanbul in the academic year 1933-1934. His classes were known as revolution lessons (İnkılap Dersleri).{{Cite book|title=An Intellectual History of Turkish Nationalism|last=Uzer|first=Umut|publisher=The University of Utah Press|year=2016|isbn=978-1607814658}} He wrote a book about it.{{Cite book|url=https://www.iletisim.com.tr/kitap/inkilap-dersleri/6997#.XF-EpS1oTUo|title=İnkılap Dersleri|language=tr}}{{Cite book|url=https://psi428.cankaya.edu.tr/uploads/files/Peker%2C%20Inkilab%20Dersleri%20Notlari%20%281935%29.pdf|title=İnkılap Dersleri|language=tr|access-date=2024-07-04}} He supported the idea that women should be liberated from the sack (the veil) and that the Arabic alphabet should be replaced by a Latin based alphabet.

On 17 August 1942, he was appointed Minister of Interior in the cabinet of Şükrü Saracoğlu serving nine months. Recep Peker became the first prime minister of the multi-party period on 7 August 1946, however Peker was a strong advocate of statism and the authoritarian one-party state. As prime minister, he opposed democratization and the introduction of the multi-party system. He served in this position until 7 September 1947. In 1948, he retired from political life.

Recep Peker died on 2 April 1950, and was laid to rest at the Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery in Istanbul.