Kemal Kurdaş

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Mustafa Kemal Kurdaş, Minister, Rector, Economist, Statesman... Kurdaş was born in Bursa in 1920. Taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the state to "Kuvayi Milliye" children, he attended primary, secondary and high school education free of charge by passing the state exams. He graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences in 1943. He became a Finance Inspector in 1947 and in 1951 he did a one-year internship at the British Treasury in England. In 1953, he was appointed as Deputy Director General of Treasury at the Ministry of Finance. Kurdaş, who started working at the IMF in 1956, returned to the country in 1960 as the Minister of Finance. Kurdaş's Ministry of Finance continued until the new government was formed after the first general election held in October 1961. He left the Ministry of Finance in November 1961 and took on the position of Rector of the Middle East Technical University. Kemal Kurdaş, whose name is synonymous with METU, has provided great benefits to the university with the campus project and afforestation activities he carried out during his 8-year rectorate, and has left unforgettable traces in the hearts of every member and graduate with his contributions to the formation of the "METU Spirit". Kemal Kurdaş, the founder of today's METU campus and who grew a huge forest from a vast steppe, left us a huge legacy of METU. 16.5 million trees in the METU campus, where there are 55 million trees, were planted during his 8-year rectorate period, and the tree festival, which is still a part of METU culture, was started for the first time during his term. During his 8-year tenure at METU, he adopted an administrative approach that respected the environment of free thought, and by enduring difficulties, he brought METU, one of the most successful universities in Turkey, to its current silhouette. Over the 25 years following his resignation from the Rectorate of Middle East Technical University at the end of November 1969, Kurdaş served as a board member, president or senior manager in many private organizations and played an active role in establishing various industrial facilities in our country, many of which were the first in the sector. Kurdaş has three books: "Science and Common Sense in Economic Policy" published in 1979, "Reviews-Comments on Economic Policy" published in 1994, "Endless Heedlessness and the Collapse of the Turkish Economy" published in 2003, and the journal "Banking and Economic Comments". He has numerous articles and reviews that have appeared in many journals such as. In addition, he has a memoir called "My METU Years: The Story of a Service", which contains his memories of the years he served as rector at METU. Kurdaş, who was married and the father of three children, passed away on April 19, 2011, and was buried in Kilyos Cemetery after the funeral prayer performed at Teşvikiye Mosque.

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https://hdl.handle.net/11511/102867

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METU Bellek, Biography