Fahri Koruturk; Former Head of State of Turkey

Former President Fahri Koruturk, a one-time chief of the Turkish navy who served as head of state from 1973 to 1980, died Monday in Istanbul at the age of 84.

The former admiral was elected by parliament in April, 1973, as a compromise candidate following a 25-day deadlock that arose when civilian politicians refused to bow to military pressure to elect Gen. Faruk Gurler, former chief of the general staff.

Koruturk, an independent moderate, called on the two main political leaders--conservative Suleyman Demirel and Social Democrat Bulent Ecevit--to cooperate in solving the political crisis and to prevent terrorism.

The crisis stemmed from a short- lived and ineffective coalition and minority governments. None of the contesting parties won a comfortable majority in the parliament.

Kenan Evren, then chief of the general staff, handed over a warning letter to Koruturk in January, 1980, calling on civilian politicians to take action against political terrorism that had claimed about 5,000 lives.

Koruturk appealed to Demirel and Ecevit, but his calls mostly went unheeded. Ecevit and Demirel failed to agree on a new head of state when Koruturk’s term expired, each insisting on his own candidate, thus escalating political tensions.

‘Protector of Turks’

The Turkish army, led by Evren, took power in September, 1980, and Evren became head of state.

The name Koruturk, or “Protector of Turks,” was given him by Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic and builder of modern Turkey, who was president from 1923 to 1938.