1960 COUP D’ÉTAT: THE FIRST COUP IN TURKISH REPUBLIC

Abstract

On May 27th the Republic of Turkey faced her first full-fledged Military takeover (Coup). As it is said, “A Coup is never just a Coup”. This review article provides a summary of the atmosphere before and after the coup of 1960 and a critical analysis of the democratic promises it brought. This Paper analyzes different terms used to identify the event such as revolution, insurrection, intervention, and coup. It also discusses the tradition of regular military intervention in the history of the Republic of Turkey. Since the transition to democracy and the multiparty system was not natural this paper also indicates the absence of democratic culture in Turkish history.  After 27th May, Turkey was led to the new constitutional structure of 1961. As it is said, the 1924 Constitution that established the first Republic of Turkey was wiped out with a coup and the 1961 Constitution and the Second Republic was established (Dursun, 2005:187). Since then until recent times the military could not separate itself from the political life of Turkey. The following discussions enclose; the origin of the 1960 Coup, the Aftermath, the Conspiracies, the Civilian Military relationship, Traditional and Historical views, Kemalist Principles, Government citizen dialogues, and Socio-economic backwardness. This critical analysis went through different interesting and easily misunderstood concepts (such as Revolt, Revolution, Military takeover, etc.).