Ekrem Dalan
His Excellency Ekrem Dalan | |
|---|---|
| اکرم دالان | |
 Ekrem Dalan in 2005. | |
| State President of the Union | |
| In office 10 July 2000 – 11 July 2005 | |
| First Minister | Izzat Al-Din Kahala |
| Preceded by | Abdelraouf Wazzan |
| Succeeded by | Hamid Alizadeh |
| Secretary-General of the National Reform Front | |
| In office 20 May 1999 – 11 July 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Union Minister for Finance | |
| In office 3 April 1998 – 10 July 2000 | |
| President | Abdelraouf Wazzan |
| Preceded by | Marwan Khitan |
| Succeeded by | Homayoun Forouhar |
| Union Minister for Internal Affairs | |
| In office 10 September 1995 – 3 April 1998 | |
| President | Abdelraouf Wazzan |
| Preceded by | Ebrahim Nazani |
| Succeeded by | Farhan Sadati |
| Chairman of the Economic Reform Council | |
| In office 10 July 1990 – 10 September 1995 | |
| President | Abdelraouf Wazzan |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Saeed Rad |
| Government Representative to the Federation of Industries and Commerce | |
| In office 10 July 1990 – 10 September 1995 | |
| President | Abdelraouf Wazzan |
| Preceded by | Ali Akbar Radan |
| Succeeded by | Basim Zawati |
| Sub-Minister for Private Enterprise Promotion | |
| In office 10 July 1990 – 10 September 1995 | |
| President | Abdelraouf Wazzan |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Jamal Ahangarani |
| Member of the Popular Assembly | |
| In office 10 July 1985 – 8 December 2007 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 October 1936 Borazjan, Cyracana |
| Died | December 8, 2007 (aged 71) Zahedan, Zorasan |
| Manner of death | Assassinated |
| Political party | Society for National Transformation (1985-1999) National Reform Front (1999-2005) |
| Spouse | Samia Hussein (m. 1959 death 2007) |
| Children | Ali Nasir |
| Parent |
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| Alma mater | University of San Michele National University of Borazjan |
Ekrem Dalan (اکرم دالان; b. 3 October 1936, d. 8 December 2007, aged 71) was a Zorasani businessman and politician, who served as State President of Zorasan from 2000 until 2005. Prior to the State Presidency, Dalan served in multiple influential posts under his predecessor, Abdelraouf Wazzan, including periods as the Minister for Finance, Internal Affairs and further key positions dedicated to overseeing the economic reforms of the 1990s. Dalan was the first Tagamic to serve as State President and the first politician with an exclusively business background, he was also the son of Ertuğrul Dalan, a senior general who became a national hero during the Pardarian Civil War.
Prior to entering politics at the 1985 general election, Dalan managed the family business, Dalan Construction Services, which was one of the first private enterprises founded in 1960. Over a period of twenty-five years, Dalan used his late father’s connections to secure lucrative contracts with the government of the Union of Khazestan and Pardaran, predominately focusing on housing and infrastructure projects. In wake of Zorasani unification in 1979, DCS would go on to secure major contracts during the reconstruction of Irvadistan. By 1985, Dalan had become of the wealthiest businessmen in Zorasan. His reputation as a reliable business partner and his business empire’s presence in every state of Zorasan elevated him to become a celebrity figure. His various business dealings also influenced his politics, becoming a vocal advocate for economic reform.
In 1985, Dalan was elected the Popular Assembly of the Union, as member of the liberal-reformist Society for National Transformation. Between 1985 and 1990, he would serve in various administrative and advisory roles within the SNT, serving as its spokesman for the economy between 1986 and 1990.
In 1990 following the electoral victory of SNT, Dalan was appointed Sub-Minister for Private Enterprise Promotion, while simultaneously being appointed Chairman of the Economic Reform Council and the chief representative of the government to the Federation of Industries and Commerce, essentially becoming “Wazzan’s righ-hand man” in expanding the economic reforms begun under the conservative Attallah Shahedeh government. Dalan was credited with several major successes, including the emergence of a burgeoning private manufacturing sector.
He held these positions from 1990 until 1995, when he was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs, which held until 1998. During his three-year tenure, he oversaw the introduction of laws moderating and decentralising law enforcement and depoliticising the rank and file. However, his calls for the establishment of a non-militarised police were blocked by State President Wazzan. In 1998, he was appointed Finance Minister and took to assuming more direct control over economic reform, securing the support of Izzat Al-Din Kahala, the Minister for Industry and Labour. Between 1998 and 2000, they oversaw further and more rapid reform of heavy industry, mining and construction.
In 1999, Dalan and his supporters established their own liberal-reformist faction, the National Reform Front, eventually succeeding in garnering the support of the SNT in November 1999. As the leader of the liberal-reformist bloc, he was their candidate for State President at the 2000 general election, which he and the NRF won but with a reduced majority, Dalan became State President that year, appointing Izzat Al-Din Kahala as his First Minister.
Dalan’s state presidency would only last a single term and was dominated by neoliberal economic reforms, further social and political reform. In both these areas, his government faced serious opposition from conservative and nationalist factions in parliament, while his government was gripped in a power-struggle with the armed forces from its inauguration, even facing a foiled coup plot. The policies of the government cause severe economic damage, lead many to describe them as shock therapy-esque, with millions unemployed before the onset of the global 2005 Economic Crisis. Unemployment, rising poverty and income disparity, coupled with deep politicisation resulted the Turfan, a period of violent civil unrest that led to the landslide victory of the nationalist bloc, defeating Dalan and the NRF in July 2005.
Following his defeat, between 2005 and 2007, Dalan focused on running his family’s business, whilst being subject to numerous investigations for corruption. However, on 8 December 2007, whilst travelling home from a formal dinner, he was shot dead by a radical ultranationalist. Dalan has since been ranked as the worst post-unification leaders, with the nationalist right viewing him as a dangerous and disruptive figure and the reformist-left viewing him as the figure who brought about the demise of the highly democratic and open Saffron Era.
Early life and education
Dalan was born on 3 October 1936, in the northwestern city of Borazjan which lay within the Etrurian colony of Cyracana. His father, Ertuğrul Dalan was a prominent colonial official and his mother, Saeedah Azari an ethnic-Pardarian worked as a office secretary. Between 1936, Dalan and his family lived a relatively middle-class life until 1940, when Ertuğrul arranged for his family’s relocation to the southern city of Soltanabad, the stronghold of the Pardarian Revolutionary Resistance Command – the Pardarian nationalist guerrilla movement.
Beginning in 1941, Dalan attended the Soltanabad Central School, though his education was interrupted by the PRRC’s involvement in the Solarian War. His education would resume in 1946 and he would go one to graduate, enabling him attend university in 1955. He graduated from the Zahedan School of Business and Economics in 1957 and then attended the National Borazjan University to secure a master’s degree in political economy in 1958. While his father became a household name during the Pardarian Civil War, commanding PRRC forces to victory on numerous occasions, Ekrem was noted to be mostly uninterested in politics, let alone the revolutionary ideology of the PRRC.