Adnan Menderes

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Adnan Menderes (1899 - September 17, 1961) was a Turkish statesman and prime minister between 1950–1960. He founded the Demokrat Parti (DP) in 1946, the first legal opposition party of Turkey. He was hanged following the 1960 coup d'état, along with two other cabinet members, Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Hasan Polatkan.

Contents 1 Early Life and Career 2 Rise to Power 3 Political Style and Beliefs 4 The Military Coup 5 Legacy 6 Reference sources and supportive documentation 7 External links

[edit] Early Life and Career

He was born in 1899 in Aydın, the son of a wealthy landowner. After primary school, Menderes attended the American College in İzmir. He graduated from the Law School of Ankara Üniversitesi in 1935. In 1930, Menderes organized a branch of the short lived "Serbest Fırka" (Free Party) in Aydın. After the ban of this party, he joined Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (Republican People’s Party) and was elected deputy of Aydın in 1931. In 1945, he was expelled from the party with two other colleagues due to inner-party opposition.

[edit] Rise to Power

Further information: Multi-Party Period of Republic of Turkey

On January 7, 1946, he formed the Demokrat Parti (Democratic party), the first^{[citation needed]} legal opposition party in Turkey. He was elected deputy of Kütahya in the 1946 elections and became the highest-ranking man in the party after Celal Bayar. When the DP came to power after the elections on May 14, 1950, Menderes became prime minister, and in 1955 he also assumed the duties of foreign minister. During the 10 years of his term of prime ministry, Turkish domestic and foreign politics underwent great changes. Industrialization and urbanization started in Turkey. Agriculture was mechanized; transport, energy, education, health care, insurance and banking progressed.^{[citation needed]} In 1955, Menderes was implicated in the organisation of the Istanbul Pogrom, which targeted the city's substantial Greek minority. On February 17, 1959 Menderes survived a plane crash. The Turkish Airlines plane "Sev" carrying him to London Gatwick Airport crashed a few miles before the runway, near Horley.

[edit] Political Style and Beliefs

Menderes became quite famous for selling or distributing most of the estate he had inherited to small shareholders. He was more tolerant towards traditional lifestyles and different forms of practice of Islam than Atatürk and his party had been - he campaigned in the 1950 elections almost exclusively on the single-issue platform of legalizing the Arabic language adhan, which had been banned by Atatürk.^{[citation needed]}

While remaining pro-Western, he was more active than his predecessors in building relations with Muslim states. Menderes had a more liberal economic policy than earlier prime ministers, and allowed more private enterprise. In general his economic policies made him popular among the poor half of the population, but it also brought the country to insolvency due to an enormous increase in imports of goods and technology.

He was most intolerant towards criticism, so he instituted press censorship and had journalists arrested, as well as attempted to oppress the opposing political parties (predominantly CHP) and take institutions such as universities under his control.^{[citation needed]} Menderes who was well liked by the people in general and also had the support of Cemal Gursel who, in a personal patriotic memorandum, had advocated that Menderes should become the president of the republic to secure the national unity, became increasingly unpopular among the intellectuals, university students and a group of radical young officers in the military, who feared that the ideals of Atatürk were in danger. This eventually brought upon him his fall.

[edit] The Military Coup

On May 27, 1960 a military coup removed the government, and Menderes was arrested along with some other party members, charged with violating the constitution. He was put on trial on the island of Yassıada. The trial also made reference to the Istanbul Pogrom, for which he and his fellow defendants were blamed. He was sentenced to death and, despite the pleas for forgiveness by the Head of State Cemal Gürsel along with similar pleas on his sentence coming from several world leaders which were all ignored, he was executed by hanging on the island of İmralı on September 17, 1961. Recently, 'İsmet Inonu and Cemal Gürsel placed phone calls to the prison's administration for Menderes' execution to be halted but the Communications Office cut the lines off' declared Attorney General Mehmet Feyyat of İstanbul at the time (see below) Many years after his death, he was posthumously pardoned and his grave was moved to a mausoleum in İstanbul on September 17, 1990 along with the graves of his two other cabinet members hanged, Fatin Rüştü Zorlu, and Hasan Polatkan.

[edit] Legacy

In 1990, his grave was transferred from the island he was buried to a memorial site in central Istanbul, with a State ceremony. A university in Aydın and the international airport in İzmir are named after him. Furthermore, his name was given to two high schools, namely, Istanbul Bahcelievler Adnan Menderes Anadolu Lisesi, and Aydın Adnan Menderes Anadolu Lisesi. He spoke English, French and Greek.

[edit] Reference sources and supportive documentation

An extremely important document that sheds light on the past has been revealed. Testimony from eyewitnesses at the time helped make known that the letter had been modified after May 27, but the location of the original letter was unknown. This important document adds a new dimension to the May 27 revolution. We have come face to face with a new document that changes our written history. It was my greatest wish to obtain just such a document; not for my own satisfaction, but for my father, to prove this reality and obtain genuine evidence. I was thrilled when I heard about this. Mr Aydın Menderes, Author, the Son of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, September 2006

"They cut off our phone lines. Adnan Menderes was hung against the regulations. I was supposed to oversee the execution.The revolution tribunal's chief prosecutor Altay Egesel conducted the execution despite not being authorized. İsmet İnönü and Cemal Gürsel were already phoning for him (Menderes) not to be executed but the telecommunications' office cut off the lines and Egesel made use of the (communication) gap to conduct the execution." Mehmet Feyyat, District Attorney General, Istanbul Province Prosecutor General 1961, The Administrator of the Imrali Prison, The Lawyer of the Year, Senator. (Reported by Özkan GÜVEN, STAR Newspaper, November 13, 2006 with a summary in Turkish at Law in the Capital)

• The full text of Cemal Gursel's letter in WikiSource

• Cemal Gürsel supported him and wanted him to become the Republic's president

[edit] External links

• Adnan Menderes Turkish Biography

Preceded by Mehmet Fuat Köprülü	Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey 1955	Succeeded by Fatin Rüştü Zorlu
Preceded by Şemsettin Günaltay	Prime Minister of Turkey 1950–1960	Succeeded by Cemal Gürsel

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey

Bekir Sami Kunduk • Ahmet Muhtar Mollaoğlu • Yusuf Kemal Tengirşenk • İsmet İnönü • Şükrü Kaya • Tevfik Rüştü Aras • Şükrü Saracoğlu • Numan Menemencioğlu • Hasan Saka • Necmettin Sadak • Mehmet Fuat Köprülü • Adnan Menderes • Fatin Rüştü Zorlu • Ethem Menderes • Selim Sarper • Feridun Cemal Erkin • Hasan Esat Işık • İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil • Osman Olcay • Haluk Bayülken • Turan Güneş • Metin Esenbel • Gündüz Ökçün • Hayrettin Erkmen • Ertuğrul Ekrem Ceyhun • İlter Türkmen • Vahit Melih Halefoğlu • Mesut Yılmaz • Ali Bozer • Ahmet Kurtcebe Alptemoçin • Safa Giray • Hikmet Çetin • Mümtaz Soysal • Murat Karayalçın • Erdal İnönü • Coşkun Kırca • Deniz Baykal • Emre Gönensay • Tansu Çiller • İsmail Cem • Şükrü Sina Gürel • Yaşar Yakış • Abdullah Gül