Rahşan Ecevit Rahşan Ecevit Rahşan Ecevit ("née" Aral; born 1923) is the widow of Turkish politician and former Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit. She was born in Bursa, Turkey to a family from Şebinkarahisar, a town in the north-eastern Giresun Province. Her father was Namık Zeki Aral, and her mother Zahide Aral. Their family came from Thessaloniki after the population exchange agreement in 1920. Rahşan graduated from the American high school Robert College in İstanbul. She married her classmate Bülent Ecevit in 1946. Following the military coup in 1980 led by General Kenan Evren, her husband was imprisoned and was suspended from active
Bülent Ecevit went to the United States in the mid–1950s on a State Department fellowship, and worked at two newspapers in North Carolina. Ecevit was elected into the Turkish parliament for the first time in 1957. He was a Member of the Parliament between 1960 and 1961 during the 26th, 27th and 28th governments. Ecevit served as the Minister of Labour between 1961 and 1965, contributing to the acceptance of the right to strike and collective agreement. In 1966 he became the secretary general of the Republican People's Party (, CHP). In 1971 he resigned from the post as a protest to