Bülent Ecevit the party decision to support the transitional government established by a military intervention. In 1972, he succeeded İsmet İnönü as the leader of the party and became Prime Minister in a coalition with the National Salvation Party of Necmettin Erbakan (the 37th government of Turkey). This government is known for ordering the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on 20 July 1974. So he was nicknamed "Conqueror of Cyprus" ("Turkish: "Kıbrıs Fatihi"") by Turkish people after that successful operation. Upon assuming the leadership of the CHP, Ecevit played a major role in redefining the party's political position in the centre-left (Turkish: "Ortanın
Bülent Ecevit among the first women in Turkey to paint professionally. Ecevit said his mother was of Bosniak ancestry and his paternal grandfather was of Kurdish ancestry. In 1944, Ecevit graduated from Robert College in Istanbul and started working as a translator at the General Directorate for Press and Publication (Turkish: "Basın Yayın Genel Müdürlüğü"). In 1946, shortly after marrying his classmate Rahşan Aral in 1946, he moved to London to work for Turkey's press attaché. During his stay in London, he studied Bengali, Sanskrit and Art History at the School of Oriental and African Studies, but did not graduate. He later