Tevfik İleri

Ahmet Tevfik İleri (1911 to 1961) was a Turkish civil engineer, civil servant, politician and government minister. Born in the Hemşin district of Rize Province and of Hamsheni origin, he spent his school years in Istanbul, graduated from Istanbul Technical University in 1933 and, as a student, was elected chairman of the Turkish National Students Association. He began as a supervisor engineer at the General Directorate of Highways in Erzurum, then managed public construction works in Çanakkale and Samsun and, from 1946 to 1950, the Highway Authority in Samsun. After joining the Democrat Party in 1950 he was elected a member of parliament for Samsun and served as Minister of Transportation, Minister of National Education, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Works. After the 1960 coup he was tried and imprisoned, was hospitalized in 1961 and died in Ankara on 31 December that year.