With a history in the Turkish political right, Sezgin had actively participated in the historical Democrat Party led by Adnan Menderes until the 1960 coup d'état.

He received higher education at the High Economy and Trade School (now Dokuz Eylül University).

[citation needed] After graduating from the High Economy and Trade School in 1950, he immediately began working at the Turkey Real Estate Credit Bank (now Ziraat Bankası) Denizli branch.

He married Saadet Sezgin, a mathematics teacher in 1952 and was also elected to the Democrat Party Denizli Provincial Administration Board in the same year.

He was removed from office as a result of the 1960 coup d'état, during which the Democrat Party government led by Adnan Menderes was ousted from power.

[citation needed] After the Justice Party won a parliamentary majority in the 1969 general election, Justice Party leader and Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel established the Ministry of Youth and Sports and appointed İsmet Sezgin as Turkey's first Minister of Youth and Sports in his government.

Due to the parliamentary deadlock resulting from a failed attempt to elect a new President in 1980, the government was ousted from power by the 1980 Turkish coup d'état led by General Kenan Evren.

[3] With his political ban lifted as a result of the 1987 constitutional referendum, Sezgin returned to Parliament as an MP from Aydın in the 1991 general election, this time from the True Path Party (DYP).

Having secured a plurality in the 1991 election, the DYP formed a coalition government with the Social Democratic Populist Party led by Erdal İnönü.

[citation needed] In 1995, he was elected as the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly, succeeding Hüsamettin Cindoruk.

The DTP contested the 2002 general election under an electoral alliance with the DYP, but the two parties combined still failed to pass the 10% boundary.