APresident · 1989 – 1993Independent states
Turgut Özal
Türkiye's eighth president (1927–1993), architect of economic liberalisation, who hosted the first summit of the independent Turkic states.
An engineer and economist who had worked at the World Bank, Turgut Özal became prime minister after the Motherland Party won the 1983 election and opened the economy to foreign trade; he was elected president in 1989.
After the USSR collapsed he was among the first to recognise the newly independent Turkic states, hosting the first summit of Turkic-speaking heads of state in Ankara in October 1992. He died in office in April 1993.
Sources
Updated: October 4, 2026