Dignitaries and family members of late Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and his two ministers convened in Istanbul on Tuesday to mark the 63rd anniversary of their execution by a military junta.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya and others laid flowers on the graves of Menderes, Foreign Minister Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Minister of Finance Hasan Polatkan in Istanbul. Polatkan and Zorlu were hanged on Sept. 16, 1961, one day before Menderes was hanged after a lengthy trial.

"It was the nation’s free will that was taken to the gallows 63 years ago," Yerlikaya said in a speech at the commemoration event by the graves of the three men.

Menderes, who won the first genuinely multiparty election after the foundation of the Republic of Türkiye, serves as an inspiration for the country’s incumbent leadership. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan often refers to Menderes as a democracy icon. Like Menderes, Erdoğan faced a coup attempt in 2016, but the nation’s unprecedented opposition to putschists loyal to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) quashed the putsch bid.

Yerlikaya said in his speech that coups were "treacherous attacks" on the nation’s independence and future. "Whenever our country advanced toward its ideals, whenever elected governments found widespread support, dark forces took action and used their pawns (to carry out coups)," he said.

A holder of the Medal of Independence, given to those who contributed to the War of Independence, Menderes was turned into a reviled figure by his critics as he was transforming a post-World War II Türkiye. A vicious campaign, led by the Republican People’s Party (CHP), of which Menderes was once a member, was followed by the military takeover and the subsequent arrest of people close to the government.

Menderes’ time in office lasted a mere decade but was marked with three election victories as the overwhelming public support for him and his Democrat Party are among the legacies of Menderes, a former farmer and jurist.

Ömer İleri, deputy chair of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and grandson of Tevfik İleri, a Menderes-era minister who was imprisoned by putschists and died in prison, said at the same event that the May 27, 1960 coup that led to execution of Menderes was celebrated as a holiday for two decades. İleri said the era of coups in Türkiye ended after the 2016 coup attempt and the nation was more conscious against such attempts now.