Cem Toker

Cem Toker
Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party
In office
20 June 2005 – 29 January 2017
Preceded byHakan Çizem
Succeeded byGültekin Tırpancı
Personal details
Born (1957-07-05) July 5, 1957 (age 67)
Istanbul
Political partyLDP
Alma materArizona State University

Cem Toker (born July 5, 1957) is a Turkish politician, businessman, economist and the former leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Turkey (Turkish: Liberal Demokrat Parti, LDP). He was elected in the fourth ordinary party congress on June 20, 2005.

Early life and career

Toker was born in 1957 in Istanbul. He graduated from the British College, İstanbul and then earned his bachelor's degree in economics from Arizona State University.

He worked in the finance sector and formed a company offering international consultancy, guidance and language services.

Toker is single and has no children.

Political career

His political career in the LDP started in 1996. Toker served as an executive and the chairman of the Istanbul branch of the LDP. He also served as the party's deputy secretary-general and secretary-general. From 2003 to 2005, he served as the deputy chairman of LDP. He was elected as the president of the party for the first time at the 4th ordinary congress of LDP in June 2005.[1] He has been reelected twice in March 2008 and October 2010.[2][3]

He was the architect of the LDP-led umbrella alliance offer in 2006.[4] He offered an alliance to nine political parties from both left and right (including Anavatan and Demokratik Sol Parti) for the basic values of republicanism against the governing conservative party, AKP. The offer was still open in 2007 and in 2011 elections.[5] In January 2017 he announced that he was stepping down as party leader and transferring the party leadership to Gültekin Tırpancı.[6]

References

  1. ^ "LDP Cem Toker´i Genel Başkan seçti" [LDP elects Cem Toker for Presidency]. Haber 7 (in Turkish). 2005-06-21. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  2. ^ "Cem Toker yeniden LDP Başkanı" [Cem Toker is the LDP President again]. Hurriyet Avrupa (in Turkish). Hürriyet. 2008-03-31. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  3. ^ Mintaz, Metin (October 4, 2010). "Cem Toker 3. Kez Genel Başkanlığa Seçildi" [Cem Toker has been elected for the 3rd time] (in Turkish). Bilgi Agi. Archived from the original on April 14, 2015. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  4. ^ Süter, Şakir (November 2, 2006). "LDP'den ittifak" [Alliance from LDP] (in Turkish). Akşam. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
  5. ^ Ataklı, Can (March 8, 2007). "Cumhuriyet için birlikte ilk ses" [First Sound at Alliance for Republic]. Vatan (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2007-03-10. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
  6. ^ TM (30 January 2017). "Cem Toker steps down as LDP leader - Turkish Minute". Retrieved 2019-11-03.
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Liberal Demokrat Parti (LDP)
2005–2017
Succeeded by