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He led three governments in the 1990s
Former Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, who led three governments in the 1990s when the country was hit by political crises, died of cancer on Friday at the age of 73, his family said.
Yilmaz, a sharp-edged conservative, was foreign minister in the 1980s.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s cabinet called Yilmaz “one of the most prominent figures in Turkish politics.”
Yilmaz’s mandates span years of unstable coalitions, political scandals and a growing conflict with the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
His last term as prime minister in 1997-99 was interrupted by a growing rift with neighboring Syria.
In 1998, Yilmaz sparked outrage throughout the Arab world, threatening to “pierce the eyes” of Syrian President Hafez Assad for his support of the PKK.
Yilmaz led the Anap (Patria) party before suffering a crushing defeat in the 2002 elections, when Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party took power.
Suspected of embezzlement during the privatization of a bank in the 1990s, he became the first former state leader to be tried by the Supreme Court for corruption.
The court suspended the session for five years in 2006 and eventually dropped the case after no new charges were filed.
Yilmaz tried to revive his political career by winning a seat in parliament in 2007, but his influence waned.
He has two children, one of whom was shot and killed in 2017.
Source: BGNES
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