The Military Interventions of 1960, 1971 and 1980 in Turkey According to British Documents

The military has had a significant role in the political history of modern Turkey. The seemingly regular military takeovers, each a decade apart, act as proof of this. The interventions in May 1960, March 1971, and September 1980 have been explained as the reluctant acts of the armed forces to set the democratic rule of the republic back on its original tracks following the deeds of corrupt and incompetent politicians. In 1960, the army ousted the Democrat Party government of Adnan Menderes on the grounds that he ran the country with total disregard for the constitution, relying on his overwhelming majority in parliament to justify his actions. In March 1971, the military forced the resignation of Süleyman Demirel, and did so again ten years later, in September 1980. The first intervention was justified as defence of the constitution. On the other two occasions, the governments were deemed weak and inefficient, the source of anarchy and instability which threatened the very foundation of the state of which the armed forces were the guardians. On each occasion the army claimed that it had intervened only to remove the politicians from the mess they themselves had made. The possibility of another coup is always present so long as the Turkish army perceives itself as the guardian of the republic and its Kemalist legacy. However, it must be emphasised that the army has only ever seized power when at least part of the ruling elite, in addition to substantial parts of the population, have come to believe that military rule is the only way out of the crisis and virtually invited the army to intervene