Fahri Sabit Koruturk

Fahri Koruturk was born in Istanbul, at Soğukçeşme Sokağı, a small street between Topkapı Palace and Hagia Sophia. He attended the Ottoman Navy cadet school in 1916, graduated in 1923 and from the Naval Academy in 1933. On 18 March 1934 after an encounter with President Atatürk he was given Korutürk as his surname. He saw active service on cruisers and submarines and later traveled abroad as naval attaché in Rome, Berlin and Stockholm. In 1936, he participated in Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Turkish Straits as military advisor. He was made rear admiral in 1950 and commanded various units until he became admiral. After his retirement in 1960 from the post of Commander of the Turkish Navy, Korutürk was appointed by the Head of State Cemal Gürsel as Turkish ambassador to the Soviet Union (1960-1964) and later to Spain (1964-1965). In 1968, President Cevdet Sunay appointed him member of the senate. On 6 April 1973, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey elected him the 6th President of the Republic of Turkey. During his term he presided over the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus after Archbishop Makarios III was ousted by the Greek officer-led Cypriot National Guard. Korutürk served the constitutional term of seven years until 6 April 1980. Afterwards he became a senator until the coup d'état in 1980. He married Emel Koruturk in 1944 and they had two sons, Osman and Selah, and a daughter, Ayşe. Fahri Koruturk died in Moda, Istanbul. He was laid to rest in the Turkish State Cemetery in Ankara. His son Osman Koruturk was appointed Turkey's ambassador in Tehran in October 1996. The Iranian government presented him with documents about his father that had been acquired during 1979 seizure of American embassy.