Committee of Inquest ( tr, Tahkikat komisyonu) was a political committee in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
which is usually considered one of the major causes that led to the
1960 Turkish coup d'état.
Background
Democrat Party (DP) defeated the
Republican People's Party
The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party ...
(CHP) in the
1950 general elections and ruled Turkey between 1950-1960. However towards 1960, Turkey faced with economic problems like the 1958 devaluation in which
Turkish lira
The lira ( tr, Türk lirası; sign: ₺; ISO 4217 code: TRY; abbreviation: TL) is the official currency of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. One lira is divided into one hundred ''kuruş''.
History
Ottoman lira (1844–1923)
The lira, along with t ...
was devaluated more than 3 times (the value of $1 jumped from 2.80 TL to 9 TL)
[Sina Akşin: ''Kısa Türkiye Tarihi'', Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, Istanbul, 2011, pp.257-259] Rise in commodity prices and scarcity of imported technology items caused unrest and consequently CHP support increased. DP government tried to suppress CHP-revival by bans on CHP activities. In
Uşak
Uşak (; el, Ουσάκειον, Ousakeion) is a city in the interior part of the Aegean Region of Turkey. The city has a population of 500,000 (2016 census) and is the capital of Uşak Province.
Uşak city is situated at a distance of from İ ...
and in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
(Topkapı)
İsmet İnönü
Mustafa İsmet İnönü (; 24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish army officer and statesman of Kurdish descent, who served as the second President of Turkey from 11 November 1938 to 22 May 1950, and its Prime Minister three tim ...
, the leader of CHP was attacked by DP sympathizers on 1 and 4 May 1959. This meant that DP, the once champion of democracy adopted a form of authoritarian rule. In this struggle most of the press, which had previously supported DP, sided with CHP.
The committee
On 25 March 1960, İsmet İnönü, the leader of CHP tried to visit
Kayseri
Kayseri (; el, Καισάρεια) is a large Industrialisation, industrialised List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is comp ...
as a part of his
election campaign
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referend ...
. But his train was stopped in
Yeşilhisar
Yeşilhisar, formerly known as Kbistra, is a town and district of Kayseri Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey.
History
Although the establishment of the district is not known for certain, first the Hittites and then the Persians c ...
town. This caused nationwide protests. DP deputies however published a notice claiming that CHP was preparing a rebellion. On 27 April DP parliamentary group which held the majority in the parliament passed a law to form a committee of Inquest. The committee, all members of which were DP MPs was tasked with inquires about the opposition party (CHP) and the press. The political committee was authorized like a court, including imprisonment.
The chairman of the committee was Ahmet Hamdi Sancar and the committee was nicknamed as "Sancar’s committee".
The first decision of the committee was to ban the political activities and to precensor the press. But İnönü continued to oppose the committee. He noted that the principle of
separation of powers
Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...
was violated.
28 April demonstrations
The law caused further unrest and on the next day a big protest was organized by the university students in Istanbul. The protest was duly banned; but nevertheless was carried on. Among other things, the
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of the
Istanbul University (
Sıddık Sami Onar
Sıddık Sami Onar (November 11, 1897 – August 9, 1972) was a Turkish academic specialized in administrative law
Life
He was born in Istanbul to Melekper and Abdullah Sami. After graduating from Vefa High School, he studied in the faculty of ...
) was beaten by the police and one university student (
Turan Emeksiz) was shot by the police to death.
/ref>
End of the committee
According to the law, the committee would serve for three months. But it was abolished by the 1960 coup on 27 May.
References
1960 in Turkey
Political history of Turkey
Law of Turkey
1960 establishments in Turkey