Military Intervention and the Return to Civilian Rule

Military intervention and the return to civilian rule

Military Interlude

The summer of 1980 was a chaotic time in Turkey. Political violence and sectarian unrest mounted in the cities and spread through the countryside. The work of parliament had almost come to a standstill, and the country was without an elected president has. On 5 September Ecevit, the CHP with Erbakan and his NSP aligned to the resignation of Foreign Minister Demirel, Hayrettin Erkman, whose strong pro-Western views had given him the approval of the General Staff officers force. The next day, the NSP-sponsored a massive rally in Konya, where Islamists (also known as fundamentalists) demonstrated for the reinstatement of Islamic law in Turkey, allegedly shows contempt for the flag and national anthem to demand. These acts were regarded as an open renunciation of Kemalism, and a direct challenge to the military. On 7September secretly met with General Evren set the armed forces and police commanders in motion plans for another coup.

In the early morning hours of 12 September 1980, the armed forces took control of the country.There was no organized resistance against the coup, yes, many Turks welcomed them as the only alternative to anarchy. The 1960 and 1971 military coups had institutional reform as their goal, 1980 action was carried out to shore up the established order by the earlier interventions.A five-member executive was, see the National Security Council (NSC – Glossary) appointed.Consisting of the service chiefs and commander of the gendarmerie, it was led by General Evren, who was recognized as head of state. On 21 September, installed the NSC a predominantly civilian cabinet and appointed Bülent Ulusu, a recently retired Admiral, Prime Minister. A 160-member appointed Consultative Assembly later a constitution for what would become Turkey’s third republic draft.

The first official act of the military regime was to establish law and order in the torn country back. Martial law was extended to all provinces. Suspected fighters of all political beliefs and trade union and student activists were arrested, and party leaders were taken into custody along with a large number of MPs. Demirel and Ecevit were soon released but told to keep a low profile. If Ecevit began to publish political articles, he was arrested again and imprisoned for several months. The Grand National Assembly was dissolved and barred its members from politics for a period of up to ten years. The political parties were dissolved and liquidated its assets by the state. The unions were cleaned and strikes prohibited. Workers who were striking at the time of the coup gave substantial pay increases and ordered back to their jobs.

A total of 30,000 people arrested, reported in the first weeks after the coup. The numbers are uncertain, but a year later, some 25,000 still in detention forever, and after two years, an estimated 10,000 remained in custody, some without formally charged. Turkes and almost 600 of his followers from the MHP were to commit on charges of complicity or attempt terrorist acts.A number of the perpetrators of terrorism have been hanged. Erbakan and Turkes were subsequently convicted and given the choice manipulation two-year prison sentences. Turkey’s international reputation suffered as a result of charges of political repression, arbitrary arrests, detentions without trial, torture and other human rights violations. Western European governments called on the military regime to restore parliamentary rule, and retained a part of the OECD aid package for Turkey was. The European Community also exposed to financial support, and the Turkish delegates were denied their seats in the Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The performance of the Turkish economy improved significantly in the first two years after the military intervention. The new regime saw to it that the economic stabilization program introduced under the leadership of Demirel Özal, one of the few members of the former government was retained after the coup implemented. Austerity measures were enforced strictly, bringing the inflation rate to 30 percent in 1982. Disagreement within the government develops, however the strict monetarist policies promoted by Özal, which were seen in some quarters, in contrast to the Kemalist principles. Özal was forced to resign as Minister of State in July 1982 when the country broke the biggest money broker, the bank Kastelli.

Policy and the return to civilian rule

The draft new constitution was adopted by the Consultative Assembly at the 17th NationIntroduced in July 1982. In providing for a strong presidency, it took some inspiration from the Constitution of 1958 that founded the Fifth Republic of France. The Constitution was a national referendum on the 7th November 1982 set, and received approval from 91.4 percent of the voters. register, the only parts of the country in significant “no” votes were those with large Kurdish population. In the vote of approval was Evren as president for a seven-year term. He took office on 9 November 1982.

A new law on political parties was March 1983, issued a ten-year ban on any active politician in the pre-recorded period of September 1980. The parties were invited to contest parliamentary elections to so shape the course of the year but were required to obtain the consent of the military rulers. Fifteen complaining party certification, accreditation, only three will receive: the Motherland Party (Anavatan Partisi – ANAP), the populist party (Halkçi Partisi – HP) and the nationalist Democratic Party (milliyetçi Demokrasi Partisi – MDP), the latter being the clear favorite of the military.

The Motherland Party, Turgut Özal was led to formulate, who helped the economic stabilization plan of 1979 was under the government of Demirel and then the program implemented under the military government. Özal was able to draw on the support of a broad coalition of forces from the political landscape of the 1970s. The Motherland Party pulled into their ranks adherents of the old Justice Party, the Islamist National Salvation Party and the far-right Nationalist Action Party.The populist party that came closest to expressing the traditional values of the Kemalist CHP, was led by Necdet Calp. The Nationalist Party was the democracy of the voters as the party of the generals who openly seen for it. Its leader, Turgut SunAlp was a retired general. The Motherland Party came from the voters be viewed as the most distant from the military, and their success in the first post-coup election can largely be attributed to this perception.

In the parliamentary elections on 6 November 1983 took place, the Motherland Party won 45.2 percent of votes and an absolute majority of seats in the new unicameral National Assembly.The populist party won 30.5 percent of the vote, and the nationalist Democratic Party received only 23.3 percent of the vote. The results were widely seen as a reprimand, the military.

Local elections followed the parliamentary elections early next year. Before 25 March 1984 election date, agreed the meeting to allow some of the banned parties to participate. Among the new parties, the Socialist Party (Parti Sosyal Demokrat – Sodep) were followed by Erdal Inonu University professor, the son of the second President of Turkey, and the True Path Party (Yol Partisi Doğru – DYP), led unofficially by Süleyman Demirel LED . The Motherland Party continue as the leading party in Turkey, claiming 41.5 percent of votes nationwide, the Social Democratic Party took 23.5 percent and the True Path Party 13.5 percent. Another new party with a religious orientation, the Welfare Party (Refah Partisi – RP; also seen as Prosperity Party), they went up 4.5 percent.

The two parties that compete with the Motherland Party in the last general elections now seemed even weaker, received about 7 percent of the vote each. The 1984 municipal elections would be the last in which everyone would compete. In November 1985, the populist party merged with the Socialist Party and May 1986, the leadership of the nationalist Democratic Party voted to dissolve the organization. Most of the loyal party found a new home in the broad range, from which the Motherland Party, others joined the True Path Party. At this time, Ecevit was with a rival left-center party, the Democratic Left Party (demokratik Sol Partisi – DSP), which officially led by his wife, Rahsan.

In national elections for local government officials on 28 September 1986, Özal party saw its popularity decline, although it still gathered a multitude of voices. The Motherland Party received 32 percent of the votes cast, compared with 23.7 percent for the True Path Party, which was as the second strongest party at a time, Demirel, their de facto leader, were still officially banned from politics. The product of a merger, accepted the new Socialist People’s Party (Sosyal Demokrat Parti Halkçi – SHP) 22.7 percent of the vote, the DSP took 8.5 percent. After this election took Özal himself under increasing pressure on the political rights of the banned politicians to restore. The Assembly stressed the provisional article of the Constitution that would have banned from political activity until 1991.

Following the constitutional changes, which also announced expanded the National Assembly to 450 seats, the Prime Minister that parliamentary elections would be held beginning on 29November. Özal also be amended to increase the electoral laws to the advantage of large parties that under the existing law already stood to gain from minimum threshold requirements and the manner in which additional seats were allocated. The Motherland Party’s election saw their percentage decrease to 36.3 percent, almost 10 percentage points below its 1983 total, but given the late changes to the electoral law, the party retained an absolute majority in the Assembly with 292 seats, or 65 percent of the total. The SHP won 24.8 percent of the vote and received 22 percent of the seats, Demirel party won 19.2 percent of the vote but only 13 percent of the seats. The leader of the True Path Party denounced the late changes to the electoral law and the new government called the “choice-right government.” None of the other parties competing the required 10 percent threshold is reached, Ecevit’s DSP received 8.5 percent of the vote, while Erbakan’s Welfare Party received less than 7 percent.

In 1989, when Evren’s term as president ended, Özal announced that he would try to succeed him. This decision was made despite the ever-diminishing popularity of Özal and the Motherland Party. In the local elections on 26 March, the Motherland Party interviewed only 21.9 percent of the vote, in third place behind the SHP’s 28.2 percent and the True Path Party to 25.6 percent.On 30 October 1989, Parliament elected the eighth President Ozal, Turkey. He was sworn in on 9 November, after the second civil Bayar in modern Turkish history to hold the position.

Özal popularity has fallen steadily, mainly because of the problems in the economy. A particular concern was the return of high inflation, which again had precoup to a level and quickly erode the purchasing power of most Turks. Coupled with economic difficulties were widespread perceptions of government corruption and nepotism, which forced the resignation of several members of the Özal government.

In the summer of 1990 the crisis in the Persian Gulf, to regain arising from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait Özal the opportunity, the political initiative. The Turkish government moved quickly to UN sanctions against Iraq, on 7 August support stopping the flow of oil through the pipeline from Iraq to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. In September, the Assembly agreed to allow foreign troops on Turkish soil and to allow the Turkish troops to serve in the Persian Gulf. The opposition had little to offer in the way of other options. Özal no doubt hoped that Turkey was ready to participate in the United States-led coalition would strengthen the country’s image abroad as a key ally, a particular concern in the post-Cold World. Some have speculated that he hoped Turkey’s participation, the EC lead registration, similar to the participation of Turkey in the Korean War had provided the opportunity to join NATO. The government approved the use of Incirlik Air Base in by Allied aircraft in the air war against Iraq. In addition, Turkish troops along the Turkish-Iraqi border were used in the Ankara insisted that it did not intend a second front against Iraq, open and committed, that they remained the territorial integrity of Iraq.

In the aftermath of the war in the Persian Gulf, the Iraqi Kurds trying to throw off the rule of Saddam Hussein in northern Iraq, after encouragement by United States officials. The uprising, which had received in support of the allied coalition was quickly put down, what to look for a massive number of Iraqi Kurdish civilians to safety in Iran and Turkey. The Turkish government was unable or unwilling to allow several hundred thousand refugees in the country to enter. The coalition allies, as proposed, together with Turkey, the creation of a “security zone” in northern Iraq. By mid-May 1991 about 200,000 Kurdish refugees had been persuaded to return to Iraq.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and its Eastern European bloc has had a major impact on the foreign policy of Turkey. In the trans-Caucasian region of the former Soviet Union, the armed conflict between the newly independent republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh region found the Turkish government is trying to stay above the fray, despite a general sympathy for the Azerbaijani claims. Turkey sought close relations with the new republics of Central Asia and argues that Turkey could experience as a secular republic serve as a useful model for these countries.

Relations with Bulgaria, which were stalled by the communist regime, the persecution of ethnic Turkish Bulgarians in the late 1980s, tense, improved following the collapse of the regime. The new government gave the campaign of ethnic harassment. Elsewhere in the Balkans, Turkey to maintain close relations with Albania and the contact with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Relations with Greece continued on long-standing differences over Cyprus and the sea and air forces’ rights in the Aegean to be complicated. In 1986, Özal paid an official visit to the self-styled Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, yet without diplomatic recognition from a country other than Turkey. In March 1987, Greece and Turkey nearly came to blows over oil drilling rights in the Aegean. Nevertheless, the two countries displayed the governments to emphasize their willingness to diplomacy over violence. In June 1989, Özal was the first Turkish Prime Minister visit to Athens in thirty-six years. Discussions on the future of Cyprus under the auspices of the United Nations instead, remained inconclusive, and the island remains under a de facto partition after more than twenty years.

Turkey in the 1991 parliamentary elections may have been the most significant since the restoration of civilian rule have. Political power peacefully from the Motherland Party to its major rival, the True Path Party. In the vote on 21 Took place in October, Demirel, the party won about 27 percent and captured the largest block of seats, 178 The Motherland Party, widely predicted as destined for Oblivion, surprised his critics by winning polling around 24 percent of the vote and 115 seats. The SHP, which had expected to do better, won 20.8 percent of votes or seats eighty-eight. Left-center votes were divided between the SHP and the DSP, the latter won about 10.8 percent of the vote and seven seats. The Welfare Party appeared to do very well, with 16.9 percent and sixty-two seats, but this result reflects a strategic decision to join with other religious-oriented party which exceed the 10 percent threshold. After the elections, the Alliance was disbanded in the Assembly. Although the mother and True Path parties were not far apart ideologically, the personal feud between Özal and Demirel ruled out any coalition arrangement.Instead, Demirel made common cause with Erdal Inönü’s SHP, an alliance with the Left, that he resisted during the 1970s. The coalition controlled 266 seats in Parliament and reflects the support of nearly 48 percent of the voters.

Defining the place of the Kurdish minority in Turkey remained a difficult challenge during this time, yes, it can be the greatest challenge for the political stability have rank. Since the basic principles of the Turkish Republic, the conception of the country as the homeland of the Turks, any proposed recognition of the Kurdish language and cultural rights has been made on the ground in question, that would threaten such a recognition of the unity of the Turkish nation.

President Özal went further than any Turkish officials in expanding the recognition of Kurdish identity, as in January 1991, he proposed a law prohibiting withdrawal of the Kurdish playing music, or the use of the Kurdish language. Law 2932, adopted in 1983 (declaring the mother tongue of Turkish citizens to be Turkish), was repealed in April 1991, making the legalization of Kurdish language, song and music. Proposals were floated for the relaxation of the ban on Kurdish occur not in the print and broadcast media and in education, but such liberalization.

Ever since the restoration of civil government to the Turkish government with the armed insurgency of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan – PKK face). The PKK, an armed Kurdish guerrillas from several organizations, was founded by Abdullah Ocalan in 1978. Ocalan fled to Syria after the coup of 1980. The PKK, which was officially banned by the Turkish government began a sustained guerrilla campaign in March 1984, at the same time coincide with the start of the new year Kurdish. The conflict, which claimed 1984-1994 approximately 12,000 lives, showed no signs of abating in the early 1990s. The Turkish army could defeat the PKK with military force alone, while the PKK was not closer to their goal of an independent Kurdish state in southeast Turkey (see Political Parties, ch. 4; Kurdish separatists, ch. 5).

Economic stabilization and the prospects for the 1990s

In 1980 the inflation rate more than 100 percent at one point and stood at 70 percent for most of the year. The economic stabilization program that began before the coup step, now unhindered by political resistance. The program aims to improve Turkey’s balance of payments, to bring inflation under control and create an export-oriented free market economy. To achieve these objectives, the plan sought to devalue the lira on a continuing basis, increases in interest rates and inflation, over-consumption, to reduce a wage freeze and a reduction of state subsidies.Exports have been stimulated by subsidies to exporters, reduction in bureaucratic rules and the elimination of tariffs on imports for export-oriented industries. Foreign investment was actively laws that promoted for easy repatriation of capital and export of profits and the establishment of four free trade zones.

The results of the ambitious programs of the 1980s were mixed. On the negative side, the purchasing power dropped 40-60 percent in the period 1979 to 1989. Inflation, which had been up to annual rates of 30-40 percent did in the early 1980s, was back to almost 70 percent from 1988. The steady decline of Özal popularity with voters in large part to these disappointing results are attributed. The government continues to run a large deficit, partly because of their unwillingness or inability to support large state-owned industries to quit. On the positive side, exports rose by an average of 22 percent per year between 1980 and 1987. Exports in 1979 amounted to U.S. $ 2,300,000,000, in 1988 the value of exports increased by $ 11,700,000,000th In addition, exports, industrial production rose in this period of less than 45 percent of all exports to more than 72 percent.

The government also undertook to modernize the infrastructure of the country, said improvements in roads and telecommunications. In July 1988 a second bridge was opened across the Bosporus, parallel to the first bridge opened in 1973. Together with a bypass road around Istanbul, which bridges to commercial traffic moving to and from Europe and the Middle East were easier. Perhaps the long-term significance was the ongoing commitment to the Southeastern Anatolia Project (Güneydogu Anadolu Projesi – GAP), a number of dams along the Euphrates and Tigris, which would belong to completion hydroelectric and extensive irrigation systems. The latter were projections allow for the irrigation of 1.6 million hectares, or twice the area under cultivation to previously. In addition, the water would provide ample energy for the Turkish industry. Because of the inability of Turkey come to an agreement with its downstream neighbors, Iraq and Syria, no international funds were made available to CAP. The project, therefore, was self-financed. In 1992 a milestone was reached with the opening of the Ataturk Dam on the Euphrates, reached northwest of Urfa.

On 17 April 1993 President Özal died suddenly of a heart attack. On his third round on 16 May, the Assembly President Suleyman Demirel elected as the ninth of Turkey. Demirel was succeeded by the former Minister Tansu Ciller, Turkey was the first woman prime minister. It received nearly 90 percent of the vote in a special election for the leadership of the True Path Party votes. The smooth succession of power can be used as proof that civil government is seen firmly in place. In addition, the candidate showed Ciller, the Prime Minister’s Office, the second highest position in the nation, to the extent rooted legacy of Ataturk, and in particular the political rights of women, was in the Turkish body politic.