1960 Turkish coup  

As I said, the Grand Assembly of Turkey proclaimed the republic on the 29th of October 1923, with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk being elected as the first president. He embarked on a campaign to modernize Turkey and Westernize the society to its main core. He died in 1938, and, he was followed by his right-hand Ismet Inonu, who had served as Prime Minister during Ataturk's tenure.

 

Ismet Inonu, 2nd President of Turkey (1938-1950)

Meanwhile, the next year, the World War II broke out. Turkey declared itself neutral in this conflict and it kept diplomatic relations with both the Allies and the Axis. Eventually, they decided to join the Allies and, in February 1945, they did that. The war ended 3 months later. Now, maybe you are asking, whey did they join so late when the conflict had been already settled? Well, to put simple: money😂😂😂. Turkey was included in the Marshall Plan scheme, a recovery plan created by the US government whose aim was to rebuild the economies of the Western European countries. Additionally, Turkey became a founding member of the United Nations. But, there were some conditions to receive US dollars and the first was to have a democratic government. Now, perhaps you are asking yourself, did not Ataturk create a democratic system in Turkey? Well, more or less😂. It is true that he established democratic institutions, but, the politics were dominated by only one party, the CHP, without any real opposition.  

As a result, in 1946, the Democrat Party was formed. Its founders were Celal Bayar and Adnan Menderes. In the 1950 general elections, the newly formed party won the majority in the parliament thus, the former became the President of Turkey whereas, the later became the Prime Minister. 

Celal Bayar, President of Turkey (1950-1960)

Adnan Menderes, Prime Minister of Turkey (1950-1960)

From that elections onward, the Democrat Party had become a centre-right faction while, the CHP had become a centre-left faction. During the 1950's, Turkey experienced a period of economic growth, primarily due to foreign aids provided by the Marshall Plan. Furthermore, because of the involvement in the Korean War (1950-1953) on the US side, Turkey joined NATO in 1952. It appears that everything was too good to end up bad, right? Well, no😅. By the late 1950's, the funds from the Marshall Plan were over and the country plunged into economic chaos. To make things worse, the government began to restrict the freedom of speech and censorship became a norm. There were also attacks against ethnic minorities, particularly the Greeks, which were supported by the government.

In the end, a group of seniors officers from the army decided to overthrow the ruling elite and, they did it on the night of May 27, 1960. Menderes was arrested, put on trial and sentenced to death. He was hanged on the 17th of September, 1961. Celal Bayar remained in jail until 1964. He was fully pardoned in 1966.