ktidar - Muhalefet li kilerinde De erlendirilemeyen Bir yile me ans : Adnan Menderes’in U ak Kazas üzerinden Siyasal leti im n a abalar ////A Missed Opportunity to Ease the Government-Opposition Relations: Political Communication Building Efforts after the Aircraft Accident of Adnan Menderes

On February 17 1959, Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and his delegate had a plane accident near London Gatwick Airport while they were enroute to London to sign the London Treaty on Cyprus. The Prime Minister and some of his companions survived the accident but some members of his delegation lost their lives. This article first examines the Turkish domestic and foreign political developments and the public political discussions in the aftermath of the accident and then narrates the efforts to rebuild and maintain the long-broken political communication between the government and the opposition parties in the warm political climate created by the accident. Although the political communication initiated mutually by the government and the opposition received the support of press, it was not long lasting. Completed with a through examination of the leading newspapers of the period and an extensive literature search, this study exhibits the significance of communication in the cooperation, which involved both the political institutions and the press. Furthermore, this article contributes to the Turkish political and journalism history