Bayar, Celâl

Bayar, Celâl (jĕläl` bä`yär), 1884–1986, Turkish statesman. The son of a religious leader and teacher, Bayar joined the nationalist movement after the Young Turk revolution. Kemal Atatürk's colleague after World War I, he held several ministerial positions (1921–37); he supervised the Greek-Turkish exchange of population (1923). In 1937 he became premier, but he resigned the post after Atatürk's death (1938). In 1946 he founded with Adnan Menderes and others the Democratic party, which came to power in 1950. He then became president of the republic and was reelected in 1954 and 1957. Ousted in 1960 by Cemal Gürsel, he was tried for violating the constitution and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1961. Bayar was released because of ill health in 1964 and pardoned in 1966.