Suleyman Demirel, who served as prime minister of Turkey seven times and president from 1993 to 2000, died Wednesday in an Ankara hospital. He was 90.
Demirel was in the hospital receiving treatment for a respiratory tract infection, Reuters reports. Demirel was born to farmers in November 1924 in the western Turkish province of Isparta, and trained to be a civil engineer. He came to power as head of the Justice party in 1965, and while serving as prime minister through the 1960s to 1990s, was toppled by the military twice. While he was in power, his followers in farming communities called him Baba, or Dad, Reuters says.
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