Ekrem Alican  Ekrem Alican (1916, Adapazarı-June 18, 2000 İstanbul) was a Turkish politician, government minister and party leader. He was born in 1916 in Adapazarı to Yusuf Efendi, a third generation Circassian immigrant from Caucasus, and Emine Hanım. He had two elder brothers, Fuat and İsmail Hakkı. After finishing the junior high school in Adapazarı in 1930, he enrolled at Şişli Terakki High School in Nişantaşı, Istanbul as a boarding student. In 1934, Ekrem Alican graduated from the high school, and entered the higher education institute named (), where he studied Finance. (Although this institute was in İstanbul, 1936 it moved to Ankara to be named Faculty of Political Science, Ankara University. ) He completed his higher education in 1937, and was sent to London School of Economics for further studies on scholarship by the Ministry of Finance. Due to the outbreak of World War II, he had to return home one and half years later. Ekrem Alican entered the service of Ministry of Finance as an assistant inspector. Between 1940-41, he fulfilled the compulsory military service as a lieutenant of artillery at Çanakkale. After the end of the World War II, the Ministry wanted to send him again to London, however he could not convince his father, who was happy with his son's employment at the Ministry. Some time later, he was promoted to the post of an inspector. In 1946, he was called to the military service again for a short time. On May 29, 1946 he and Naciye Güler, an 18-year-old native of his hometown, got engaged. The couple married on May 19, 1947. The family had three children, daughters Emine Nilüfer (born in 1948), Canan (born in 1951) and son Yusuf (born in 1958). Right after completion of his second military time, Ekrem Alican resigned from his post at the Ministry after seven years of service, and returned to his hometown. He and his three other relatives established a firm in the trade of agricultural products. The firm was short-living because unsuccessful. At the age of 34, Ekrem Alican entered Democrat Party (DP), and was elected deputy of Kocaeli in the 1950 general elections. The family moved then to Ankara. In 1951, Alican stood up for the building of a sugar refinery in Adapazarı, which was highly needed in the region.