Background
Koraltan was born in Divriği, Sivas Province in 1889, the son of Ali Bey, a local leading citizen.
Koraltan was born in Divriği, Sivas Province in 1889, the son of Ali Bey, a local leading citizen.
After completing the primary and middle education in Divriği, Koraltan studied at Istanbul Mercan High School. He was graduated from Istanbul Faculty of Law.
Koraltan entered public service as an assistant prosecutor and became the Attorney General of Karaman in 1915. He was assigned as police inspector on March 2, 1918 and charged as Chief of Police of Trabzon on May 29, 1918. During this duty, he facilitated the establishment of the "Society of Defence of the National Rights to counteract the Pontus Rum Organizations" that started to appear after the end of World War I.
He was elected the TBMM as the Deputy of Konya in 1920 and reelected from the same city for three more terms.
He served as Governor of Bursa Province from 1939 to 1942.
He served briefly as governor of Konya Province before returning to the parliament six more terms. In 1946, he quit from the RPP and formed the Democratic Party together with Celal Bayar, Adnan Menderes and Mehmet Fuat Köprülü.
Finally, he served as Speaker of the TBMM from May 22, 1950 until May 27, 1960, the military coup. Koraltan died on June 17, 1974 in Istanbul, and is buried in Ankara.
Koraltan was married with four children.
Although he was known as Refik Koraltan, the name on his birth record was Bekir Refik.
