Since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey nearly a century ago, almost every generation has a memory of a coup. For today’s youth, it is the July 15, 2016 coup attempt and the older generations still vividly remember others in 1997 and in 1980. But the first coup, which also opened the floodgates for brutal interventions in democracy, is a distant memory now. On Friday, Turkey will mark the anniversary of the May 27, 1960 coup, which was the bloodiest for the country’s leaders.
This seminal attempt by the army demonstrated that democracy was not to be taken for granted, even for a party that won two successive elections, as long as the military saw elected governments as easy targets, under the guise of “protecting the state.”
It was also the first time in the fledgling democracy of the country that a prime minister and two ministers are executed by a junta, which also scrapped the Constitution and the parliament.
The Democrat Party (DP), founded by former members of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), had brought fresh air into Turkish politics, ending years of single-party rule in 1950. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, it won the subsequent elections in 1954.
Though beloved by the majority, the DP was walking a tightrope in the political arena amid fierce opposition and a string of incidents that piled blame on the party and the government. For instance, Menderes and Deputy Prime Minister Fatin Rüştü Zorlu were handed down prison terms after the coup over the infamous Sept. 6-7 incidents in 1955, a string of riots in big cities that ended with pogrom of minorities, though the evidence was scarce on the role of Menderes and Zorlu who were accused of inciting the riots.
But tensions ran higher before the coup with the opposition blaming the DP for thwarting its rallies and accusations of “repression” aimed at the government. The killing of a university student during anti-government protests shortly before the coup further escalated tensions in the country after news broke out that the student was killed by police. The military, on the other hand, was largely quiet, until a “march” on May 5, 1960, by a group of military cadets, apparently in protest of the government. It was followed by more protests organized by cadets.
Few were aware that it was the sign of an imminent coup. Turkey woke up on May 27, 1960, to the news that the army, or rather the “Committee of National Unity” comprised of 38 high-ranking officers, had taken power. In a declaration read by Col. Alparslan Türkeş, the committee said they had to seize the power as the DP was becoming a repressive regime and pushing Turkey toward civil war. Putschists pledged “free and fair elections as soon as possible,” but it would take another five years for a truly democratically elected government, led by Süleyman Demirel, to come to power. Demirel, however, would not stay long in his post, as a military memorandum, just short of a coup, in 1971, forced him to resign. Successive governments, in the meantime, would be short-lived though, before another military coup on Sept. 12, 1980, indicated that the democracy was still not free from the chokehold of the powerful military.
Today, the names of the putschists behind the 1960 coup are barely remembered, while memories of Menderes and his two ministers, Zorlu and Hasan Polatkan, are immortalized in a state-sponsored memorial in Istanbul where their graves are located. The trio is also remembered in Yassıada, now named Democracy and Freedoms Island, in a museum complex including reenactments of the trials of Menderes and others on this Marmara Sea island.
Nilüfer Gürsoy, the daughter of President Celal Bayar, who was imprisoned during the coup, vividly remembers those days. Gürsoy, now 101 years old, recalls how her father was taken from the presidential residence in the capital Ankara’s Çankaya after the coup.
“The coup came at a time when the Democrat Party would reap what it invested for the future of the country. It was the first shock for (the republic) and a point of collapse. Many other coups followed but the 1960 coup was the strongest,” she told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Thursday. “We still feel its impact today. It was the change of regime,” she said.
Gürsoy laments what she calls the false image of the DP and insists that, contrary to claims, the party continued the principles of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey.
Professor Akile Gürsoy, the granddaughter of Celal Bayar, says Turkey was long traumatized by the fact that May 27, 1960, was observed as a national holiday for decades. “They marked a bloody coup where a prime minister and two ministers are hanged as a holiday,” she said.
She says that the 1960 coup now serves as an occasion to “learn lessons from the past.” “We must remember the coup as a dark chapter in the nation’s history,” she said. Gürsoy said her grandfather, the “first civilian president” of Turkey, exerted efforts both for the country’s independence as a colleague of Atatürk and for future prosperity. “The coup put an end to the contributions of Celal Bayar and experienced politicians,” she said.
On her memories of the coup, Akile Gürsoy says she still remembers how her grandmother wept when she heard about the death of Interior Minister Namık Gedik. Gedik had committed suicide at the military school he was taken to as a prisoner following the coup. “I have never seen my grandmother Reşide crying so much when she heard about his death. She was crying and saying he was killed,” Gürsoy said.
