born 0441; 1926, Sinop, Tur.
First leader of an Islamic political party to win a general election in Turkey (1995).
Son of an Ottoman-era religious court judge, he studied mechanical engineering before being elected to the National Assembly in 1969. Despite Turkey's strong secular tradition and its laws prohibiting the formation of parties based on religious ideology, Erbakan formed an Islamic party in 1970 and another in 1972, serving twice as deputy prime minister. His third attempt to form a party created the Refah ("Welfare") Party , which won the most seats in the 1995 elections. As prime minister, he formed a coalition government in 1996, but his party was outlawed in 1997; he was then banned from politics.