Suphi Baykam (1926–1996) was a Turkish physician and politician from the Republican People's Party (CHP). He served at the Parliament for three terms.
He was born in Adana in 1926.[1] His father worked as a teacher and then as a tax official.[1]
He graduated from of the School of Medicine, Istanbul University in 1950.[2] He was also educated at Institute of Public Administration for Turkey and the Middle East in 1955 and at the Radiology Institute in 1956.[2]
Baykam served as the president of the Turkish National Student Union between 1948 and 1950 while attending the School of Medicine.[2][3] During his term the Union adopted a Kemalist approach unlike its previous ideology of nationalism.[1]
Career and activities
Baykam worked at the student dormitories until 1951 when he was dismissed by the Ministry of Education due to his criticisms against the ruling Democrat Party (DP).[1] Then he left political activity and worked as a physician in Karaman.[1] Following his return to Ankara in 1953 he began to work as a medical assistant at the School of Medicine of Ankara University.[4] The same year he also joined the CHP.[1] He became the first head of the youth branch of the CHP on 17 February 1954.[4][5] He was dismissed from his assistantship when he was involved in the CHP's propaganda activities before the general election in 1954.[4] The DP government also cancelled the three-year scholarship awarded by the World Health Organization to Baykam.[4]
Baykam was elected as the head of the Ankara Medical Chamber in 1957.[2] The same year he was elected as a deputy from his hometown for the CHP and served at the Parliament during the 11th term.[5] He became a member of the CHP's council in the 14th congress on 12 January 1959.[6] Following the military coup on 27 May 1960 a Constituent Assembly was formed. Baykam was a representative of the CHP at the Assembly.[5]
Baykam was elected as a deputy from İstanbul in the elections of 1961 and 1965.[5] During this period he was the vice general secretary of the CHP and a member of the left of center group.[7] He was again elected as a member of the CHP's council in the congress held in October 1964.[6]
While serving at the Parliament he developed the first law to improve Turkish cinema which is known as the Baykam Law Proposal.[8] After the end of his term at the Parliament he retired from politics.[9]
Views
For Baykam Kemalism was the opposite of wild capitalism, racism, communism, and reaction.[1] He was instrumental in the development of the concepts such as Left of Center (Turkish: Ortanın Solu) and land reform (Turkish: Toprak Reformu) which were very crucial in the reorganization of the CHP.[9]
Personal life and death
Baykam married Mutahhar Baykam in 1952.[2] She was an architect.[10] They had two children, a daughter and a son, Bedri Baykam.[10]
Alptekin Gündüz published a book in memory of Suphi Baykam in 2004.[9]
References
1234567Reuben Silverman (2019). "Republican People's Party People: Partisan Polarization in the Republic of Turkey, 1950–1953". The Middle East Journal. 73 (1): 81, 88. JSTOR26933034.
