Adnan Kahveci

Adnan Kahveci (20 February 1949 – 5 February 1993) was a noted Turkish politician who served as a key advisor to Prime Minister Turgut Özal throughout the 1980s. He was one of the founders in 1983 of the Motherland Party (ANAP) led by Turgut Özal, and later a minister in Özal's government. He died in a car accident in 1993. Prior to his political career in Turkey, Kahveci had led a successful career as an electrical engineer and academic in the United States, having done his studies in Purdue University and having risen to become a professor at the University of Missouri.

Background He was born in Sürmene, Trabzon Province in 1949. Adnan Kahveci was recognized very early as a child prodigy, having come first in a nationwide exam organized by the newspaper Milliyet among primary school students in 1961, in the entry exams for the select Kabataş High School in 1966, in another nationwide exam organized this time by the newspaper Hürriyet and among high school students, in the nationwide university entry exams in 1966 and in Istanbul University scholarship exams. He pursued his studies in electrical engineering in Purdue University in the United States and obtained his doctorate from University of Missouri where he went on to become a professor.

After his return to Turkey, he was, for a time in the academic staff of Boğaziçi University.

Political career In the early 1980s Kahveci was "chef de cabinet" (chief of staff) to Prime Minister Turgut Özal, becoming, in the words of The Independent, "the main link between Ozal and the outside world, including local politicians and civil servants, the military, as well as Western journalists and foreign investors." When Özal broke with the military in 1982, Kahveci supported his creation of the ANAP (Motherland Party), and would have stood in the 1983 elections if he had not been banned by the military. He became Özal's chief advisor, and entered Parliament in the 1987 elections. Both in office and during the short subsequent period he spent as a member of the opposition after the 1991 elections, he was widely recognized as a maverick deputy, who spoke his mind irrespective of the party line.

Prior to his death, Kahveci was working with Özal on the Kurdish question, and wrote a report urging a peaceful solution, including recognition of the Kurdish language. According to the autobiography of Sakıp Sabancı, Özal had also entrusted Kahveci with the issue of potentially reserving seats in Parliament for minorities (an idea Sabancı had urged Özal to take up).

Death Kahveci died in a car accident in Gerede on 5 February 1993, together with his wife and daughter.