ANKARA (BBC News) -- Former Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has died after nearly six months in a coma following a stroke, aged 81.

The veteran politician had five terms in office in a career of four decades, before being swept from power in 2002.

He ordered the invasion of Cyprus in 1974 to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority, leading to the island's division which still exists today.

Ecevit was responsible for pushing Turkey closer to the West and towards candidacy for EU membership.

He was swept from power in 2002 after refusing to resign on health grounds, and he was blamed in part for the economic crisis which rocked Turkey.

This made way for the rise of current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party.

In 1974, Ecevit became Turkey's first left-wing prime minister.

But despite his social democrat views, he was also a strong nationalist.

He ordered the invasion to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority, leading to the division.

The politician enjoyed hero status in Turkey in the aftermath, but his coalition broke up before the end of the year and he was out of office.

Thereafter, his political career was a rollercoaster. He served as prime minister for two brief periods during the late 1970s, but was also imprisoned by the military following coups during the early 1980s.

Banned from politics for 10 years, he nonetheless managed to cultivate a reputation as a moderate elder statesman - which was to serve him well.

Under Ecevit, Turkey was accepted as a candidate for membership in the EU in 1999.

His last period in office was marred by a very public row with the country's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, over how to tackle corruption.

In early 2001, as fears grew over the stability of the country, the Turkish lira lost a quarter of its value and the International Monetary Fund was called in to rescue the economy.

Ecevit also had to deal with right-wing nationalists in his own coalition who were opposed to many of the reforms designed to enable Turkey to join the EU.

Poor health dogged him through much of 2002, as he battled fresh political and economic crises. After failing to lead his party back into the National Assembly, he later retired from active politics in 2004.