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 solu"), which proved controversial. In the 1973 general election, the CHP won a plurality of the votes and seats in parliament. Despite the party's secular credentials, Ecevit formed a coalition with the Islamist National Salvation Party (MSP) headed by Necmettin Erbakan. Despite lasting only ten months, Ecevit's first government was responsible for the successful Turkish invasion of Cyprus, for which he is nicknamed the 'conqueror of Cyprus' (Turkish: "Kıbrıs Fatihi"). Despite winning an increased share of the votes and seats in the 1977 general election, Ecevit was unable to form a coalition and instead formed a minority government which lasted