Rüştü Erdelhun

Mustafa Rüştü Erdelhun (* 1894 in Edirne ; † November 9, 1983 in Istanbul ) was a general of the Turkish armed forces (Türk Silahlı Kuvetleri) , who was chief of the general staff between 1958 and 1960 . After the military coup on May 27, 1960 , he was sentenced to death during the Yassıada trials , but was later pardoned.

Life

Training to become an officer and promotion to general

After attending school, Erdelhun completed training as an officer at the Army School ( Harp Okulu ) , which he completed in 1914 as an ensign (Asteğmen) . During the First World War he served as adjutant and then as chief of artillery - battery . After the war, he found use in the military commission in Izmir , where he joined the national army on 2 April 1921 and on the side of Mustafa Kemal Pasha the Turkish War of Liberation participated. For his services he was awarded the Independence Medal ( İstiklâl Madalyası ) .

In 1923 he began training at the Army Academy ( Harp Akademisi ) and after its completion in 1926 he became a general staff officer before he worked as a military attaché in Tokyo , Rome and London until 1945 .

After the end of the Second World War , Erdelhun was promoted to Brigadier General (Tuğgeneral) in 1945 and was first in command of the 15th Brigade and then in 1946 deputy chief of staff for training. In 1947 he was promoted to major general (Tümgeneral) and appointed deputy head of the department for training and personnel, before he was first commander of the 6th division and then commander of the 51st division. Most recently he was a member of the Ministry of Defense's examination committee (Millî Savunma Bakanlığı) .

In 1952 Erdelhun was promoted to lieutenant general (co- general ) and appointed chairman of the Liaison Committee for the Self-Defense Forces of Japan . After he was subsequently commanding general of the 18th Corps from 1953 to 1954 , he succeeded Lieutenant General Zekâi Okan as Deputy Chief of Staff (Genelkurmay II. Başkanı) on September 14, 1954 and remained in this post until his replacement by Lieutenant General Salih Coşkun on June 14, 1956.

During this time he was promoted to General (Orgeneral) in 1956 and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the 2nd Army on June 14, 1956 as successor to General Necati Tacan . Subsequently, on August 1, 1958, he again succeeded General Tacan and took over from him the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Army (Türk Kara Kuvvetleri) , while General Muhittin Önür became his own successor as Commander-in-Chief of the 2nd Army.

Chief of Staff and the May 27, 1960 coup

Most recently, General Erdelhun succeeded General Feyzi Mengüç as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (Genelkurmay Başkanı) on August 23, 1958 . General Cemal Gürsel then became the new commander-in-chief of the army . After the military coup of May 27, 1960 , which led to the overthrow of the government of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes , General Erdelhun was deposed as chief of the general staff and replaced by General Ragıp Gümüşpala .

Erdelhun was then arrested and charged with numerous other politicians and officers as part of the Yassıada trials . Together with Celâl Bayar , Adnan Menderes , Hasan Polatkan , Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and ten other defendants, he was then sentenced to death for amending, replacing and abrogating the Turkish constitution in accordance with Article 146 I of the Turkish Penal Code . However, the sentences could not be carried out without the confirmation of the National Unity Committee . The committee only upheld the death sentences against Menderes, Polatkan and Zorlu, which were carried out on September 16 and 17, 1961 on the island of İmralı . The remaining death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment .

After a four-year prison sentence, he was finally pardoned by General Cemal Gürsel, who succeeded Celâl Bayar as president after the coup .

Web links

• Biography on the homepage of the armed forces (page accessed on October 16, 2015)
• Entry in Kim Kimdir? (Who is who?)