This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2008) (Find sources: Bülent Arınç – news, books, scholar)

Bülent Arınç (born 1948) is a Turkish politician. He served as the 22nd house speaker of the Parliament of Turkey from 2002 to 2007.He is one of the State Ministers of Turkey and Vice-Prime Minister today.

[edit] Life and education

He was born in 1948 in Bursa, Turkey.After finishing the high school in Manisa, Bülent Arınç attended University of Ankara, earning a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1970. Following his education, he worked as a freelance lawyer in Manisa.

Bülent Arınç is married with two children, one of whom died in a traffic accident.

[edit] Entry into politics

Already interested in politics during his university years, Bülent Arınç ran for the deputy of Manisa in the 1995 general elections, and entered the Turkish Grand National Assembly from the Welfare Party (Turkish: Refah Partisi). He became also a member of the board of his party, and served in the parliament’s justice commission.

Following the closing of the Welfare Party by the Constitutional Court of Turkey on February 15, 1998, he transferred to the Virtue Party (Turkish: Fazilet Partisi). Arınç was elected in the 1999 general elections as deputy of Manisa, this time from he Virtue Party. He became a member of the foreign affairs commission of the parliament.

The constitutional court closed the Virtue Party on June 22, 2001. Bülent Arınç, along with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, co-founded the Justice and Development Party (Turkish: Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) the same year on August 14. He was appointed speaker of his party’s group in the parliament.

Bülent Arınç was elected the third time deputy of Manisa in the general elections held on November 3, 2002. On November 19, 2002, he was elected Speaker of the Parliament.

[edit] References

• Biography (Turkish)

Political offices
Preceded by Ömer İzgi	Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey Nov 19, 2002–Jul 22, 2007	Succeeded by Köksal Toptan
Preceded by Hayati Yazıcı Nazım Ekren	Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey with Cemil Çiçek and Ali Babacan May 1, 2009–present	Succeeded by incumbent

v • d • e Speakers of the Parliament of the Republic of Turkey Grand National Assembly (1920–1960) Mustafa Kemal Atatürk · Ali Fethi Okyar · Kazım Özalp · Mustafa Abdulhalik Renda · Kâzım Karabekir · Ali Fuat Cebesoy · Şükrü Saracoğlu · Refik Koraltan House of Representatives (1961) Kazım Orbay National Assembly (1961–1980) Fuat Sirmen · Ferruh Bozbeyli · Sabit Osman Avcı · Kemal Güven · Cahit Karakaş Consultative Assembly (1981–1983) Sadi Irmak Grand National Assembly (since 1983) Necmettin Karaduman · Yıldırım Akbulut · İsmet Kaya Erdem · Hüsamettin Cindoruk · İsmet Sezgin · Mustafa Kalemli · Hikmet Çetin · Ömer İzgi · Bülent Arınç · Köksal Toptan · Mehmet Ali Şahin