Adnan Menderes

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Adnan Menderes (1960)
Signature of Adnan Menderes

Ali Adnan Ertekin Menderes (* 1899 in Aydın ; † September 17, 1961 on the prison island İmralı ) was the first free-elections prime minister of Turkey . He ruled from 1950 and was overthrown by the military on May 27, 1960 . He was executed after the Yassıada trials .

Live and act

Adnan Menderes was the son of the landowner İbrahim Ethem from Güzelhisar in Aydın Province . In his youth, Menderes played in the football clubs Karşıyaka SK and Altay Izmir . He was a high school student at the American Collegiate Institute in Izmir.

On August 12, 1930 he joined the Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası ("Free Republican Party", SCF) founded by Fethi Okyar . Menderes organized the SCF in Aydın and became the provincial head of the SCF. The task of the SCF should be to take up oppositional voices to the existing de facto one-party system and to integrate them into the system. After a few months this attempt was discontinued and the SCF was dissolved. He then joined the Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (Republican People's Party, CHP) and became provincial chief in Aydın for the party.

During the 4th legislative period (May 4, 1931 - December 23, 1934) of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey , he was a member of the Aydın Province for the CHP. During his time as a member of parliament, he completed his law studies at the Faculty of Law in Ankara and completed it in 1935. During the 5th (March 1, 1935 to December 27, 1938), 6th (April 3, 1939 to December 15, 1943) and 7th Legislative period (March 8, 1944 to December 25, 1945) he was also a member of the Aydın Province for the CHP. On December 25, 1945, Adnan Menderes was expelled from the CHP.

On December 7, 1945 he founded the Democratic Party (DP) with Celâl Bayar , Refik Koraltan and Mehmet Fuat Köprülü , of which he became chairman in 1950. The DP played an important role in the transition from the one-party system - with the Republican People's Party as the only party - to the multi-party system. In the parliamentary elections in July 1946 , the DP only won 64 of the 465 seats, probably also because the ruling Republican People's Party under Ismet Inönü had brought the elections forward by a year in order to give the DP little time to build up. During the 8th legislative period (August 5, 1946 - March 24, 1950) Menderes was a member of the Kütahya Province for the DP.

In the parliamentary election on May 14, 1950 , the first free and undistorted parliamentary election, the DP received 52.68 percent of the vote and 408 of the 487 seats; Menderes was elected MP for the Istanbul Province. On May 22, 1950, he formed the first Menderes government as Prime Minister; Mehmet Fuat Köprülü became foreign minister. Celâl Bayar was elected President on the same day. On May 29, 1950, the new government presented its program, which promised workers the right to strike, journalists a free press law, taxpayers a cut in government spending, and entrepreneurs the transfer of state-owned industries into private ownership.

1950: Korean War

After the United Nations Security Council called on its member states to come to the aid of South Korea, which had been attacked by communist North Korea, the Turkish government decided to send troops immediately. When Menderes entered the Korean War, he created an exceptional political situation, as modern Turkey had previously avoided military interventions outside of its own country. The army 's field work also contradicted the Turkish constitution, as Menderes had not obtained the approval of the National Assembly . The opposition condemned the new government's actions as a breach of the constitution, while the Turkish public was pleasantly surprised. After Koprulu in a telegram to the UN Secretary General on 25 July 1950 Trygve Lie had declared its intention to send 4,500 men to Korea, the pride of many Turks erupted in great enthusiasm about the first nation after the United States calling the UN followed to be. The step to participate in this UN mission decided by the Security Council was a radical new path for Turkey. Foreign countries rated this as a sign of a courageous, active and dynamic foreign policy by the Menderes government. The participation in the war at that time was still noticeable in Turkish domestic and foreign policy for a few decades; the clear neutrality policy pursued by state founder Kemal Ataturk was abandoned. The Soviet Union criticized Turkey's participation in the war. Fearing a Soviet attack, the government now accepted extensive military aid from the United States.

In 1951, Menderes told the Turkish newspaper Vatan as a motivation for the Korean operation that Turkey was now viewed as a great power in international relations.

Curbing the Soviet urge to expand

Another important goal of Menderes' foreign policy was the containment of the Soviet will to expand in the Near and Middle East . Together with Greece and Iran , Turkey then formed the southern bulwark against Moscow politics. In the past, the Orient had long been under the control of Turkey. Here the Soviet Union was the main rival; it had been providing all kinds of aid to the Middle East for a long time. The Menderes government now had to find a way to contain the "Red Danger", as the Soviet Union was called in Turkey at the time, in and back in this region so that Turkey would not ultimately be encircled could be. The old hatred of the former Turkish colonial rulers in many Arab countries and the recognition of the State of Israel by the previous Şemsettin Günaltay government in 1949 were seen as aggravating . Menderes saw this recognition as a "foreign policy burden". Menderes' policy on the Orient was less successful. One of his goals of integrating Arab countries into NATO or building stability diplomacy failed. In many cases it was the discord among the Arab countries that made comprehensive solutions impossible. Egypt also proved to be a stumbling block.

On March 9, 1951, the second Menderes government was formed. The previous president, Ismet Inönü , became the leader of the opposition. Inönü turned down the offer of some generals to dissolve the DP in order to enable him to return to power. Menderes was also elected in Istanbul in the 10th legislative period (May 14, 1954 - September 12, 1957).

Menderes ruled Turkey for ten years. During this time the country experienced a rapid economic upswing based on the new economic liberalism and strong foreign support, especially from the USA . His government mainly modernized the agriculture, transportation, health, banking, energy, education and insurance systems. Turkey joined NATO under Menderes in 1952 . The Turkish government at the time was convinced of the importance of extensive relations with the United States and was ready to enter into major commitments for this purpose.

On May 17, 1954, he formed the third government of Menderes. Menderes was elected to parliament for the last time in the 11th legislative period. On February 24, 1955, Turkey and Iraq signed an agreement, which Great Britain, Pakistan and Iran joined shortly afterwards. The agreement was initially called the Baghdad Pact, from which the Central Treaty Organization developed in 1959, supported by the USA .

Relationship to secularism

Menderes called for a return to the Islamic State. This alarmed the guardians of the Kemalist- laicist legacy, whom he described as "obsessive reformists".

The regulation of the country's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1932, the Islamic call to prayer rather than Arabic in Turkish perform, he picked up.

Menderes explained these reforms as follows:

“We have freed our previously oppressed religion from oppression. Without paying attention to the cries of the obsessed reformists, we changed the call to prayer back to Arabic, introduced religious instruction in schools and allowed the Koran to be recited on the radio. The Turkish state is Muslim and will remain Muslim. Everything that Islam demands will be observed by the government. "

Due to its economic success and the approval of the religious sections of the population, the Menderes government was able to win the elections of 1954 even more clearly than the previous ones. But even at this time there were massive political and economic undesirable developments, which led to smoldering dissatisfaction in the country.

1955: The Istanbul pogrom

On the night of September 6th to 7th, 1955, the pogrom of Istanbul took place , with which Greek-Christian life in the metropolis largely died out. This resulted in state-organized violence against the Greek minority, which also affected other Christian minorities in Istanbul .

As a result of the pogrom, around 100,000 Greeks left their old homeland. While almost 125,000 Orthodox Greeks lived as a minority in Istanbul in 1945, their number fell dramatically as a result of the 1955 pogrom. In 1999 there were still 2,500 Greeks living in Turkey. 1650 of them lived in Istanbul in 2006.

To what extent these riots were staged to divert attention from the economic failure of the Menderes government, or to what extent it was an at least partially spontaneous response by the Istanbul mob to attacks by the Greek Cypriots on Turkish Cypriots, is still a matter of dispute. However, all sources state that the Menderes government participated, if not organized, in the pogrom. This allegation was also a major issue in the trial of Adnan Menderes after his dismissal by the army.

1959: Cyprus Agreement

The ongoing Cyprus conflict was also at the center of Greek-Turkish politics during the 1950s. This had its roots already in Ottoman times and was additionally fueled by British colonialism on the island. In addition to actual historical national and religious tensions, today the cause is also being sought among the respective ruling political and social elites, for whom the conflict came in handy as an ideology that stabilizes rule. The escalation resulting in bloody acts of violence is therefore also a consequence of decades of propaganda, in which state agencies and the media have often worked hand in hand.

In September 1958, the incumbent Archbishop of Cyprus, Makarios III. , who as an ethnarch was also the political representative of the Greek Orthodox Christians, declares that he is ready to accept the status of guaranteed independence for the island. In doing so, he paved the way for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. During a NATO meeting in Paris in December 1958 , the representatives of Greece, Turkey and the former colonial power Great Britain came together for the first concrete discussions about the future of the island. From February 6 to 11, 1959 , negotiations between Adnan Menderes and his Greek counterpart Konstantin Karamanlis took place in Zurich under British supervision , which went very well. As early as February 19, 1959, the Cyprus Agreement could therefore be presented to the public, on the basis of which a constitution was to be drawn up. The signing took place in London and was approved by the Prime Ministers of Turkey, Greece and Great Britain and the national representative of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios III. and Fazıl Küçük . As a result, legal experts in Athens and Ankara worked out the constitution of Cyprus with British support, which only came into force on August 6, 1960 with the island's declaration of independence after Menderes' arrest. However, this constitution was such that the country continued to be controlled by the three powers Turkey, Greece and Great Britain and there was no provision for the formation of a government of its own.

Mistrust, mismanagement and the EEC negotiation

On November 30, 1955, the government was distrusted by parliament, which is why Menderes, as Prime Minister, had to form a new government from members of the DP on December 11, 1955.

The initially strong economic expansion under Menderes was not all about winners. Illegal gecekondulars increasingly formed on the outskirts of the big cities . The rapid population growth drove spending on education and infrastructure in the air. The state's share in investment rose from 40 percent to 60 percent between 1950 and 1960. As a result, public debt also grew . The fall in world market prices for agricultural products stalled growth in 1953 and resulted in a serious trade deficit . All over the country people protested against the threat of economic decline. Menderes responded by setting prices and increasing state controls on imports and exports; However, these regulations did not bring rapid aid to the population. In the parliamentary elections on October 27, 1957 , Menderes' DP party received only 47.9 percent of the vote (minus 9.6 percentage points). Due to the Turkish majority vote , the government had 69.5 percent of the parliamentary seats.

In politics, the CHP and the DP were irreconcilable. The government - like the CHP before it - used the state radio as a propaganda tool and passed laws that strengthened its own position. It restricted the autonomy of the universities, tightened the press law and had newspapers banned.

An important event in Menderes' reign was the application on July 21, 1959 for Turkey's association with the European Economic Community (EEC) . The EEC - Turkey Association Agreement was signed on September 12, 1963 and entered into force on December 1, 1964.

Minority policy

Turkey at the time did not adhere to the conditions for ethnic minorities set out in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . Under Menderes, for example, the policy of assimilation towards the Kurds was continued. Cultural and ethnic differences between Turks and Kurds were denied; one tried to portray the Kurds as a Turkic people . State restrictions were intended to ensure that Kurdish culture could not be lived and that no media appeared in the Kurdish language.

On September 5, 1955, a bomb attack was carried out on the birthplace of Ataturk, the founder of the state, in Thessaloniki, Greece. In the months before, the press had heated up the mood with reports against Greece and the Greeks in Istanbul. On the night of September 6th to 7th, 1955, there were violent riots in Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara against the Christian, especially against the Greek minority. After that, a large part of the Armenians and Jews left Turkey for fear of another pogrom for Great Britain, the USA and Israel. Speaking to the Turkish parliament, Menderes said that the Cyprus crisis had caused a surge of youthful patriots, but that the real masterminds behind the acts of violence were communists.

In July 1958, the Iraqi military murdered longtime King Faisal II ; this ended the Iraqi Hashimite monarchy. The new rulers granted the Kurds extensive autonomy in Iraq. The resulting Kurdish euphoria spread to Turkey; Here, too, the Kurdish educated class now demanded cultural rights. Therefore, in the summer of 1959, the Menderes government arrested 49 Kurdish intellectuals allegedly guilty of conspiracy and cultural activity. However, only a few Kurdish writings on language, literature and history were found. It was not until the Turkish military government of General Cemal Gürsel that the 49 arrested people were convicted under martial law after the military coup in 1960 , but released in 1965 due to the statute of limitations.

Military coup and trial

On May 27, 1960 , the Turkish armed forces took power in the country bloodlessly. One of the official reasons for the coup was the allegation that the Democratic Party, through Kurdish tribal leaders and sheikhs in its ranks, had campaigned for forbidden regionalism in favor of the Kurds.

The National Unity Committee was formed under General Cemal Gürsel , who later became President of Turkey . The Democratic Party was banned. The putschists initiated legal proceedings, the Yassıada trials , against Menderes and officials of his government and party, a total of 592 people. According to the Turkish Penal Code (tStGB) at the time, the death penalty was possible against persons “who seek to change, replace or repeal the constitution”.

Menderes was charged with "organizing anti-Greek riots in 1955", "threatening the life of former President İsmet İnönü ", "organizing riots to destroy a newspaper" and corruption, and on September 15, 1961 together with Celâl Bayar , Fatin Rüştü Zorlu , Hasan Polatkan and eleven other representatives of the previous government sentenced to death for high treason within the meaning of the constitutional overthrow according to Art. 146 Para. 1 tStGB in the version at that time. Menderes himself did not appear for the verdict as he was weakened (controversial) by attempting suicide with sleeping pills ( Equanil and Nembutal ). 31 of his co-defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment , 133 were acquitted, and charges against five co-defendants were dismissed. The others received temporary prison sentences of different lengths.

Despite strong international pressure, the junta insisted on the execution of the death sentence against Menderes. He was hanged on September 17, 1961 . Zorlu and Polatkan had been executed the day before. The remaining death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. Bayar was spared for reasons of age.

Today's assessment in Turkey

Menderes' car

The prestige that Menderes is enjoying again in Turkey today was particularly promoted by the government in the past. However, some Turks criticize him for opening the Turkish economy to world markets or for various authoritarian acts that he instigated. Others consider him an advocate of democracy. His attitude towards the Istanbul pogrom against the Greek minority or the oppression of the Kurds, on the other hand, is hardly an issue in Turkey.

Streets have been named after Menderes since the 1980s. In a state act on September 17, 1990 in Istanbul, his bones and those of the two ministers who were executed at the same time were transferred to a monumental mausoleum, the Anıt Mezar, built especially for this purpose. In 1987 the international airport of Izmir was named after him and in 1992 the Adnan Menderes Üniversitesi was founded . In 2006/2007 his life was filmed for a Turkish television series. In the Turkish series Ben Onu Çok Sevdim ('I Loved Him So Much'), broadcast by ATV from September 2013 , a romance between Menderes and the opera singer Ayhan Aydan (1924–2009) was also discussed.

Awards

Web links

Commons : Adnan Menderes  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Turkey: MSB, March 2008 ( Memento from April 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ A b c Norbert Wiggershaus , Winfried Heinemann : National foreign and alliance policy of the NATO member states , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-486-56489-7 , p. 286
  3. ↑ Votes received and percentage of votes of the parties in the parliamentary elections in 1950 . Website of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
  4. ↑ Bülent Tanör: Osmanlı-Türk Anayasal Gelişmeleri (1789–1980). 21st edition. Yapı Kredi Yayınları, Istanbul 2011, p. 343 f.
  5. ↑ Cem Erogul: Democrat Parti. Tarihi ve İdeolojisi. 4th edition. İmge Kitabevi Yayınları, Ankara 2003, ISBN 975-533-227-8 , p. 83 f.
  6. ↑ Der Spiegel 24/1960: The Old Turks
  7. ^ A b c Norbert Wiggershaus , Winfried Heinemann : National foreign and alliance policy of the NATO member states , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-486-56489-7 , p. 287
  8. ^ Norbert Wiggershaus, Winfried Heinemann: National foreign and alliance policy of NATO member states , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-486-56489-7 , p. 289
  9. ^ Norbert Wiggershaus, Winfried Heinemann: National foreign and alliance policy of the NATO member states , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-486-56489-7 , p. 295
  10. ^ A b Norbert Wiggershaus, Winfried Heinemann: National foreign and alliance policy of the NATO member states , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-486-56489-7 , p. 308
  11. ↑ a b c d Udo Steinbach : Stations in domestic politics since 1945 . In: Information on political education (Issue 277). December 25, 2007, archived from the original on December 20, 2007 ; accessed on February 9, 2014 (publication of the Federal Agency for Civic Education).
  12. ↑ [Ahmet N. Yücekök, Türkiye'de Örgütlenmiş Dinin Sosyo-Ekonomik Tabanı, Ankara 1971, p. 93]
  13. ↑ 50 years ago a pogrom destroyed the old Constantinople. World Council of Churches in Austria (ÖRKÖ), September 5, 2005, archived from the original on October 22, 2007 ; Retrieved February 9, 2014 .
  14. ↑ Thomas Seibert: Tricky Anniversary for Ankara. Anti-Greek pogrom is being reworked ; in: Der Tagesspiegel from September 7, 2005 (article on the 50th anniversary)
  15. ^ A b Günter Seufert, Christopher Kubaseck: Turkey - Politics, History, Culture , C. H. Beck Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-54750-8 , p. 162
  16. ^ Human Rights Watch: Greece. The Turks of Western Thrace ; 1999; P. 2, footnote (PDF; 350 kB)
  17. ↑ Human Rights Watch Document 1999, p. 8 (PDF; 350 kB)
  18. ^ Jeanette Choisi: Roots and Structures of the Cyprus Conflict , Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-06054-5 , p. 25
  19. ^ Jeanette Choisi: Roots and Structures of the Cyprus Conflict , Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-06054-5 , p. 226
  20. ^ Jeanette Choisi: Roots and Structures of the Cyprus Conflict , Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-06054-5 , p. 227
  21. ^ University of Magdeburg, annual chronicle
  22. ↑ Klaus Kreiser, p. 423 ff.
  23. ↑ Christoph K. Neumann, p. 317 ff.
  24. ↑ Der Spiegel May 11, 1960 on Menderes' fight against journalists and newspapers: The Miniature Sultan
  25. ↑ Federal Agency for Civic Education (2014): The Istanbul Pogrom
  26. ^ Günther Deschner : Saladins Sons , Droemer Knaur, 1983, ISBN 3-426-26098-0 , p. 109
  27. ↑ Martin Strohmeier, Lale Yalçın-Heckmann: Die Kurden , C. H. Beck Verlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-406-42129-6 , p. 103
  28. ↑ Time article The verdict , edition of September 22, 1961 ( Memento of January 5, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  29. ↑ Art. 146 para. 1 tStGB (old version) reads in German translation: “Anyone attempting to use force to amend or override the constitution of the Turkish Republic in whole or in part, or to disrupt the Great National Assembly formed on the basis of this constitution or to exercise it Preventing powers is punishable by death. ”Translation by Silvia Tellenbach: The Turkish Penal Code. Turk Ceza Kanunu. From March 1, 1926 to the status of January 31, 2001 (= collection of foreign penal codes in German translation. Volume G 110). 2nd Edition. Edition iuscrim, Freiburg im Breisgau 2001, ISBN 3-86113-921-9 , p. 74.
  30. ↑ Bertold Spuler (arr.): Regents and Governments of the World , Vol. 4: Latest time 1917 / 18–1964 . Ploetz, Würzburg 1964, p. 602.
  31. ↑ youtube.com . At that time, Yıldırım Akbulut (ANAP) ruled
  32. ↑ see also en: Hatırla Sevgili
  33. ↑ see also en: Ben Onu Çok Sevdim
  34. ↑ http://www.quirinale.it/qrnw/statico/onorificenze/decorato.asp?id=32204&ono=11
personal data
SURNAME Menderes, Adnan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Menderes, Ali Adnan Ertekin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Turkish politician and prime minister
BIRTH DATE 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Aydın
DATE OF DEATH 17th September 1961
PLACE OF DEATH İmralı