1993 Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel was chosen by Parliament as Turkey’s ninth president and told the nation at his swearing-in he expected to combine impartiality with involvement in big issues. His election filled the vacancy left by Turgut Ozal who died of a heart attack in April.
Turkey must now find a prime minister to replace Demirel, 68, who has led a coalition government for the past 18 months. “It is unthinkable that the president will ever take sides or take a stand that could cast a shadow over his impartiality,” Demirel declared in his inauguration speech.
“Yet it would be a mistake to interpret impartiality as avoiding national and international problems which have a political nature and as not becoming involved in issues at all,” he said.
Demirel, acknowledging that the presidential powers outlined in the constitution drawn up by the military in 1982 had caused periodic dissent, pledged to work for harmony among the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government.
Other important events
1817 - Mississippi River steamboat service begins.
1862 - Frenchman Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir builds the first gas-fuelled internal combustion engine.
1868 - US Senate fails to impeach President Andrew Johnson by a single vote.
1881 - World’s 1st electric tram enters service in Lichterfelder.
1929 - The first Academy Awards are presented during a banquet at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
1932 - Japanese Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai is assassinated in Tokyo
1941 - The Icelandic parliament ends treaty with Denmark, proclaims independence.
1961 - Major-General Park Chung-hee stages a military coup in South Korea.
1975 - Japan’s Junko Tabei becomes first woman to climb Mount Everest.
1977 - Muhammad Ali beats Alfredo Evangelist in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
1980 - Japanese Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira calls a snap general election after his government collapses in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence
1989 - Lebanese Grand Mufti Shaikh Hassan Khalid is killed in a car bomb blast.
1991 - Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first British monarch to address the US Congress.
1992 - A special governing panel fires Azerbaijani President Ayaz Mutalibov, a former communist.
1996 - Atal Bihari Vajpayee is sworn in as the new Indian prime minister.
1997 - Zaire’s ailing president, Mobutu Sese Seko steps down ending over three decades of highly personalised rule.
1999 - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami makes a historic visit to Saudi Arabia.
2002 - Taiwan’s state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp and its Chinese counterpart sign a landmark pact to jointly explore for oil.
2003 - Twenty-nine people are killed and about 100 injured in five nearly simultaneous suicide bombings in Casablanca, Morocco.
2005 - Kuwaiti women are granted the right to vote and contest elections.
2009 - Kuwait elects four women members of parliament for the first time in the nation’s history.
2011 - The RAK Maritime City is launched in Ras Al Khaimah.
2013 - Indian actor Sanjay Dutt surrenders before a court in Mumbai after being sentenced to five years in prison.
2014 - The Narendra Modi-led BJP single-handedly wins a majority in the national elections in India.
2015 - An Egypt court sentences ex-President Mohammad Mursi to death over allegations he escaped prison in 2011.
2016 - UAE and Saudi Arabia sets up a joint council to coordinate efforts and bolster ties between the two countries.
