TÜRK SİYASETİ

Mahmud II sent some men to the Western countries, such as England, France, Prussia, and Austria, to receive training to meet the state’s military needs.

The first coup attempt in the Ottoman period was the Kuleli Incident, which happened in 1859. Some soldiers and civilians planned a coup in cooperation in order to dethrone Sultan Abdulmecid and replace him with Abdulaziz.

The Progressive Republican Party was closed on the ground that it was associated with the rebels. The founders of the party were judged, and some former commanders such as Kazım (Karabekir) Pasha, Ali Fuat (Cebesoy) Pasha, Refet (Bele) Pasha and Rauf (Orbay) Bey were excluded from politics in this way.

Talat Aydemir and Fethi Gürcan, the leaders of the coup attempt, were sentenced to death and the parliament approved the death penalties. At the end, Aydemir and Gürcan were executed in 1964.

In the 1973 general elections, the CHP was the first party under the leadership of a new leader Bülent Ecevit. However, the CHP alone could not reach enough number of seats in the parliament to form a government. Thus, a coalition government was established between the CHP and the National Salvation Party (Millî Selamet Partisi-MSP).

In the 1973 general elections, the CHP was the first party under the leadership of a new leader Bülent Ecevit.

The September 12 Military Coup is significantly different from the May 27 military intervention. The May 27 coup was carried out by a junta in the army, so the Commander of Turkish Armed Forces and the other commanders were retired. However, all the elements of the Armed Forces were involved in the September 12.

“Milli Güvenlik Kurulu”, a constitutional institution established by the 1961 Constitution, continues its activities. This Council, under the chairmanship of the President, is composed of the Vice Presidents, the Ministers of Justice, National Defense, the Interior and Foreign Affairs, the Commanders of the Land, Naval and Air Forces and the Chief of General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces.

With the referendum held in 1987, the political rights of the politicians who were banned from politics after the September 12 coup d’etat were reinstated. Thus, Süleyman Demirel, Alparslan Türkeş, Bülent Ecevit, and Necmettin Erbakan have returned to the political arena.

In 1989, Prime Minister Turgut Özal has been nominated for presidency. As a result of the elections held in parliament, Özal was elected as the president. After the presidency of Celal Bayar in the 1950s, Özal was the second civilian president of the Turkish Republic.

The first coup attempt in the Ottoman period was the Kuleli Incident, which happened in 1859. Some soldiers and civilians planned a coup in cooperation in order to dethrone Sultan Abdulmecid and replace him with Abdulaziz. However, the troops which were affiliated to the palace received the news of this coup attempt before it happened. Afterwards, those who attempted the coup were arrested and tried in Kuleli Quarters. The trial was referred to as Kuleli Incident because the trials took place in Kuleli Quarters.

One of the most significant changes made in the military field was the abolition of the Janissary corps in 1829. Sultan Mahmud II wanted to make a drastic reform in the military area. The Sultan explained that he would build a new army to be trained and organized in the direction of modern techniques. Mahmud II declared that he would not remove the Janissary corps, but that the janissaries would be present in the new army with a certain amount of troops. When this decision was announced, the janissaries launched a great rebellion. The military units affiliated with the palace who took advantage of the new war technology opened fire on the janissaries. Many janissaries lost their lives in this attempt of rebellion, and the rest of them surrendered or fled. This event, known as Vakayı Hayriye, enabled the Ottoman Empire to get rid of the last traces of the traditional military system (Lewis, 1998, p. 81). A new army was established by Sultan Mahmud II under the name of Asakar-i Mansure-i Muhammediye. Thus, the Ottoman state formed a completely “modern” army system.

In 1945, the establishment of new parties was allowed. The most powerful party established during this period was the Democrat Party (Demokrat Parti-DP). The four founders of the party, Celal Bayar, Adnan Menderes, Refik Koraltan and Fuat Köprülü, were members of the Parliament as the Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi-CHP) deputies. In other words, the opposition was born in the CHP itself.

May 27, 1960, Turkey witnessed a coup d’etat which stopped a ten-year period of democracy in the country. In fact, throughout the DP rule, different junta initiatives began to emerge within the military. Some small groups of officers began preparations to overthrow the political power. These had secret meetings among themselves. Some practices in the last period of the DP government encouraged the military officers who were in search of a military intervention. Criticisms about the authoritarian rule of the government led some intellectuals to cooperate with the pro-junta groups in the army. As a result, most colonels and a group of lower-ranking officers of the Armed Forces took action on May 27, 1960 for a coup d’etat. The head of the coup was the former Commander of the Land Forces Cemal Gürsel who had recently retired. By choosing a retired top general as the leader of the junta, the coup plotters were trying to prevent a possible dissolution among themselves. They also aimed at ensuring the support of the military as a whole through this manoeuvre.

The 1946 elections were held in a short time, not allowing the opposition to organize. Despite this, the DP was quite effective during the process of election campaign. However, these elections were not conducted fairly. The election was held under the supervision of state officials and most of these officers were the members of the CHP. The votes were not explicitly counted; the ballot boxes were abducted in many places. There were very serious suspicions about the manipulation which directly affected the outcome of elections. As a result, the CHP won the elections and continued to rule the country. From now on, however, there was a parliament that composed of two parties. The DP won parliamentary representation and became an influential opposition party.

The May 27 coup was directly against the DP government, which was in power at that time. In this context, the DP was eliminated from politics and the executives of the party were tried. But the other parties were not banned. Furthermore, NGOs were not touched much except the pro-DP ones. Nevertheless, the March 12 Memorandum affected different political movements within the country. After the intervention, the National Order Party (Milli Nizam Partisi-MNP) and Worker’s Party of Turkey (Türkiye İşçi Partisi-TİP) were closed. In addition, after the intervention, a large number of people who came from different ideological backgrounds were arrested

Although there were a large number of young officers in the coup, their positions were not clear. Because the coup was not achieved in a chain of command, a serious confusion arose on managing the post-coup period. For this reason, the architects of the coup formed a commission which was called the National Unity Committee (Milli Birlik Komitesi). The National Unity Committee consisted of 38 officers and most of them were colonels and lower ranking military officers. The National Unity Committee had the authority to make regulations through which the power was effectively centred in the committee. In a short time, the National Unity Committee banned all political activities within the country, and lots of people were arrested.

Within a short period of time, disagreements emerged within the National Unity Committee. More precisely, conflicting political views of the committee members who had acted together to achieve the coup d’etat emerged. The National Unity Committee composed of officials who were predominantly pro-Republican People’s Party. These officers wanted to act with the CHP leader İsmet İnönü. On the contrary, another group consisting of 14 people had nationalist tendencies. This group which was led by Alparslan Türkeş was against not only the DP but also the CHP. The power struggle between these two groups resulted in the removal of these 14 officers one of whom was Türkeş. They were given foreign missions and, through this way were distanced from the country. Thus, the National Unity Committee could have a more homogeneous character (Kayalı, 1994, p.

National Security Council (Milli Güvenlik Konseyi) Established after the military coup of September 12th. Following the general elections on November 6, 1983, the task of the National Security Council was terminated on 7 December 1983, when the Presidium of the TBMM was formed. Head of Council Kenan Evren was elected as the president. Other members of the Council have served as the “members of the Presidential Council” until the end of Evren’s presidency

The February 28 military memorandum created a big trauma in large segments of society. For example, thousands of girls were forced to leave their schools because they were veiling. Vocational high school students were exposed to discrimination through the coefficient system; so many students could not enter faculties for many years. A large number of people were judged and sent to prison with the accusation of their reactionary activities. Some people lost their jobs and professions. On February 28, the military did not make a usual coup. However, politicians were forced to act in the direction of the army’s demands. They changed the elected government and intervened directly into politics without directly taking control of the country. For this reason, the February 28th Process was called the “postmodern coup”.