ITHACA, N.Y. -- Süleyman Demirel, the former president and four-time premier of Turkey, will give a public lecture Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 8 p.m. in the David L. Call Alumni Auditorium of Kennedy Hall at Cornell University. He will speak on "Turkish-U.S. Relations: New Political Landscape of the Middle East since the Collapse of the U.S.S.R."

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is part of Demirel's three-day visit to Cornell, during which he will meet faculty and administrators to acquaint them with Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Project, known as GAP, for Guneydogu Anadolu Projesi. The visit will involve discussions of possible joint initiatives involving Cornell, the State University of New York system and the Turkish Higher Education Council.

GAP, a $32 billion integrated regional project based on sustainable development, is designed to boost Turkish income levels, living standards and social stability by enhancing production in rural areas. The project area covers nine provinces in the Euphrates and Tigris river basins as well as parts of the Upper Mesopotamia plains. It involves the construction of 22 dams and 19 power plants, with an annual energy production of 27 billion kilowatts, and irrigation schemes on an area extending over 1.7 million hectares.

Demirel was born in Isparta, Turkey, in 1924 and earned a civil engineering degree at Istanbul Technical University. He worked in the United States with the Bureau of Reclamation (1949-50). Back in Turkey, he worked with General Directorate of Electrical Studies in Ankara, leading the building of hydroelectric facilities. From 1954 to 1955, he was the first Dwight D. Eisenhower fellow from Turkey to study in the United States.

Demirel entered Turkish politics in 1961 and rose to chairman of the Justice Party in 1964. He became deputy prime minister in 1964 and prime minister in 1965. Turkish military leaders forced him from office in 1971 over the government's policy on combating terrorism. He returned to the premiership three more times, 1975-77, 1979-80 and 1991-93. As president, 1993-2000, he pursued an aggressive economic growth policy and is credited with accelerating the development and industrialization of Turkey.