Ali Rana Tarhan was born in
Istanbul in 1883. After graduating from
Galatasaray High School, he travelled to Belgium and Germany to study communication (then known as
PTT-profession). He joined the Republican People's Party (CHP) and, in
1927 he was elected as an MP. In the
7th,
8th,
9th,
10th,
11th and
12th government of Turkey he was always the Minister of Customs and Trade between 1 March 1935– 26 May 1939. In 1939, he joined a group of MP s in the party to form a
semi independent political group in the party which would act as an opposition. He was the acting speaker of the group. Thus he left his seat in the cabinet. After his party lost the elections in 1950 he served in the board of directors of
İşbank. He died in Istanbul on March 25, 1956, and was buried the next day in the family grave at the Küplüce Cemetery in
Beylerbeyi. ==References==