Şemsettin Günaltay

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Mehmet Şemsettin Günaltay (1883–1961) was a Turkish historian, politician and prime minister of Turkey.

He was born 1883 in the Kemaliye town of Erzincan Province, Turkey as a Crimean Tatars descent. After finishing the Teacher’s College, Şemsettin Günaltay was educated in physics at University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

After his return to Turkey, he worked as teacher and schoolmaster in a number of high schools. During this time, he got to know Ziya Gökalp, a prominent ideologue of Pan-Turkism. Influenced by him, he began to carry out research on the Turkish history. In 1914, he was appointed professor of history of Turks and Islamic tribes at the Faculty of Letters of İstanbul University. Later, he served as the dean of the Faculty of Theology at the same university.

In 1915, he was elected to the Ottoman parliament as deputy of Bilecik Province from the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), and remained member of the parliament until its dissolution. In the meantime, he continued to lecture at the university.

During the Turkish War of Independence, he joined the "Association of Defense of the Rights of Anatolia and Rumelia". After the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, Şemsettin Günaltay entered Turkish Grand National Assembly as deputy of Sivas Province from “Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi” CHP (“Republican People's Party”) that lasted until 1950. Between 1950 and 1954, he represented Erzincan Province in the parliament.

After Prime Minister Hasan Saka’s resignation, Şemsettin Günaltay was appointed by President İsmet İnönü to form his cabinet on January 16, 1949 that lasted until Adnan Menderes’ Democratic Party took over the government on May 22, 1950 following the general elections. He was the last prime minister of the single party era in the politics of Turkey.

Şemsettin Günaltay died on October 19, 1961 in İstanbul due to prostate cancer, shortly after he was elected to the senate to represent İstanbul Province, however, before he could take his seat. He laid to rest next to his daughter’s grave in Ankara according to his will.

Şemsettin Günaltay was the head of the Turkish History Institution from 1941 until his death.