Mustafa Üstündağ (politician)

Mustafa Üstündağ (1933–1983) was a Turkish school teacher, politician and former government minister.

Mustafa Üstündağ
Minister of National Education
In office 26 January 1974 – 17 November 1974
Prime Minister	Bülent Ecevit
Preceded by	Orhan Dengiz
Succeeded by	Sefa Reisoğlu
Minister of National Education
In office 21 June 1977 – 21 July 1977
Prime Minister	Bülent Ecevit
Preceded by	Ali Naili Erdem
Succeeded by	Nahit Menteşe
Personal details
Born	1933 Seydişehir, Konya Province, Turkey
Died	June 30, 1983(1983-06-30) (aged 50) Konya Province, Turkey
Political party	Republican People's Party (CHP)
Alma mater	Gazi Institute for Education University of Wisconsin
Occupation	Teacher, Politician

Early life

Mustafa Üstündağ was born in Ortakaraören village of Seydişehir ilçe (district) in Konya Province. After graduating from İvriz Village Institute in 1951, he served in various schools as a teacher. In 1960, he graduated from Gazi Institute for Education in Ankara. He obtained a Master's degree from the University of Wisconsin.^[1] He joined the academic staff of Hacettepe University.

Political life

Mustafa Üstündağ joined the Republican People's Party (CHP) and in 1969 Turkish general elections he was elected a deputy from Konya Province. In the 1973 and 1977, he was reelected. Beginning 1970, he represented CHP in the European Council. In 1971 he was elected as the general secretary of CHP. Both in the 37th and the 40th government of Turkey, he served as the Minister of National Education.^[2][3] During his term as minister, he launched the system of Distance education. He tried to establish the equality in education.^[1]

Later years

His political life ended on 12 September 1980 by the 1980 Turkish coup d'état. On 30 June 1983 he died in a car accident.^[1] He was laid to rest in Konya.