The 1960 Turkish coup d'état ( tr, 27 Mayıs Darbesi) was the first

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

in the

Republic of 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 ...

. It took place on May 27, 1960. The coup was staged by a group of 38 young

Turkish military The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the armed forces, military forces of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, General Staff, the Turki ...

officers, acting outside the military

chain of command A command hierarchy is a group of people who carry out orders based on others' authority within the group. It can be viewed as part of a power structure, in which it is usually seen as the most vulnerable and also the most powerful part. Milit ...

. The officers were ''de facto'' led by

Cemal Madanoğlu Cemal Madanoğlu (22 March 1907 – 28 July 1993) was a Turkish soldier and lieutenant general. Born in Izmir on 22 March 1907, he attended the Turkish Military Academy, and the Academy of High Command. Cemal Madanoğlu was among the leaders ...

until the actual coup date. After a threat by

Ragıp Gümüşpala Ragıp Gümüşpala (1897 – 6 June 1964) was the 11th Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces and founder of the Justice Party in 1961. He died shortly afterwards, on 6 June 1964, in Istanbul. Biography Military Life While he ...

that he would move to quell the coup unless it was led by someone with a higher military rank than himself, the officers brought in General

Cemal Gürsel Cemal Gürsel (; 13 October 1895 – 14 September 1966) was a Turkish army general who became the List of Presidents of Turkey, fourth President of Turkey after a coup. Early life He was born in the city of Erzurum as the son of an Ottoman A ...

as their leader. The coup was carried out against the democratically elected government of the Democrat Party, and ultimately resulted in the execution of its prime minister, Adnan Menderes, alongside two of his ministers,

Fatin Rüştü Zorlu Fatin Rüştü Zorlu (20 April 1910 – 16 September 1961) was a Turkish diplomat and politician. He was executed by hanging after the coup d'état in 1960 along with two other politicians. Early life and education He was born on 20 Apri ...

and

Hasan Polatkan Hasan Polatkan (1915 – 16 September 1961) was a Turkish politician and Minister of Labor and Finance, who was executed by hanging after the coup d'état in 1960 along with two other cabinet members. Early years He was born 1915 in Eski� ...

Background

The incident took place at a time of both socio-political turmoil and economic hardship, as US aid from the

Truman doctrine The Truman Doctrine is an American foreign policy that pledged American "support for democracies against authoritarian threats." The doctrine originated with the primary goal of containing Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. It was ...

and the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

was running out and so Prime Minister Adnan Menderes planned to visit Moscow in the hope of establishing alternative lines of credit.

Coup

Colonel Alparslan Türkeş was among the officers who led the coup. He was a member of the

junta Junta may refer to: Government and military * Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones ** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by ...

(

National Unity Committee The National Unity Committee ( tr, Milli Birlik Komitesi, MBK) was a military committee formed following the 1960 Turkish coup d'état. It dissolved with the 1961 general election. Background Between 1950 and 1960, the ruling party in Turkey wa ...

) and had been among the first 16 officers trained by the United States in 1948 to form a

stay-behind In a stay-behind operation, a country places secret operatives or organizations in its own territory, for use in case an enemy occupies that territory. If this occurs, the operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement or act as sp ...

counter-guerrilla Counter-Guerrilla ( tr, Kontrgerilla) is the Turkish branch of Operation Gladio, a clandestine stay-behind anti-communist initiative backed by the United States as an expression of the Truman Doctrine. The founding goal of the operation was to ere ...

. As such, he explicitly stated his

anticommunism Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

and his faith and allegiance to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and

CENTO The Middle East Treaty Organization (METO), also known as the Baghdad Pact and subsequently known as the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), was a military alliance of the Cold War. It was formed in 24 February 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Tur ...

in his short address to nation, but he remained vague on the reasons of the coup. On the morning of May 27, Türkeş declared the coup over radio, which ultimately announced "the end of one period in Turkish history, and usher in a new one": In a press conference on the following day,

emphasized that the "purpose and the aim of the coup is to bring the country with all speed to a fair, clean and solid democracy.... I want to transfer power and the administration of the nation to the free choice of the people" However, a within the junta around Türkeş supported a steadfast military leadership, an authoritarian rule similar as it was with the

Committee of Union and Progress The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, translit=İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, script=Arab), later the Union and Progress Party ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى فرقه‌سی, translit=İttihad ve Tera ...

or during Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's regime. This group then attempted to discharge from their offices 147 University teachers. This then led to a reaction from the officers within the junta who demanded a return to democracy and a multiparty system, following which Türkeş and his group were sent abroad.

Purge

The junta forced 235 generals and more than 3,000 other

commissioned officers An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

into retirement; purged more than 500 judges and public prosecutors and 1400 university faculty members and put the

chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ( United States) * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Af ...

, the president, the prime minister and other members of the administration under arrest. Several hundred

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

Alevi Alevism or Anatolian Alevism (; tr, Alevilik, ''Anadolu Aleviliği'' or ''Kızılbaşlık''; ; az, Ələvilik) is a local Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Alevi Islamic ( ''bāṭenī'') teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, w ...

notables were detained in a Camp in

Sivas Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is a ...

. 55, of which most were affiliated with the DP and several were Kurdish Members of the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

were deported to western provinces. It followed by the appointment of the commander of the army General

, as the provisional head of state, prime minister and the minister of defense.

Yassıada trials

The Minister of the Interior,

Namık Gedik Namık Gedik (1911–1960) was a Turkish physician and politician who served as the minister of interior during the mid-1950s. He was a member of the Democrat Party which was the ruling party in the period 1950–1960. He was arrested on 27 May ...

, committed suicide while he was detained in the

Turkish Military Academy The Turkish Military Academy ( tr, Kara Harp Okulu) is a four-year co-educational military academy and part of the National Defence University. It is located in the center of Ankara, Turkey. Its mission is to develop cadets mentally and ph ...

. President Celal Bayar, prime minister Adnan Menderes and several other members of the administration were put on trial before a court appointed by the junta on the island

Yassıada Yassıada ( Turkish: Flat Island), officially renamed Democracy and Freedom Island ( Turkish: Demokrasi ve Özğürlükler Adası) in 2013, is one of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara, to the southeast of Istanbul. In Byzantine times, i ...

in the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via the ...

. The politicians were charged with

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

, misuse of public funds and abrogation of the constitution. The tribunals ended with the execution of Minister of Foreign Affairs

and Minister of Finance

İmralı İmralı is a small Turkish prison island in the south of the Sea of Marmara, west of the Armutlu-Bozburun peninsula within Bursa Province. It measures in the north–south direction with a width of , and has an area of . The highest peak is ...

island on 16 September 1961, and Adnan Menderes on 17 September 1961. Celal Bayar was not hanged, but imprisoned on

İmralı prison İmralı prison is an F-Type high security prison on the island of İmralı in the Sea of Marmara in Turkey. It is currently used as a prison for a few prisoners from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and one prisoner of the Communist Party of T ...

Aftermath

constitutional referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

was held on 9 July 1961. A new constitution was drawn up to replace the one from 1924. It was approved by 61.7% of voters, with an 81.0% turnout.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I'', p254 A month after the execution of Menderes and other members of the Turkish government,

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

were held on 15 October 1961. The administrative authority was returned to civilians, but the military continued to dominate the political scene until October 1965.

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 ...

held the office of Prime Minister for the third time from 1961 to 1965. Turkish Army Colonel Talat Aydemir organised two failed coups d'état in February 1962 and May 1963. In the first free

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

after the coup, in 1965,

Süleyman Demirel Süleyman Sami Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously served as the ...

was elected and held the office until 1971, when he was removed by a military memerandum.

References

External links

Information booklet published by the military junta for visitors of the court on the island Yassıada

Notification of coup (Turkish)
(Voice: Col. Alparslan Türkeş) {{DEFAULTSORT:1960 Turkish Coup D'etat Turkish coup d'etat Military coups in Turkey Coup d'etat 1960s coups d'état and coup attempts May 1960 events in Europe Adnan Menderes 1960 in Turkish politics Anti-communism in Turkey 1960 crimes in Turkey