1991
The multi-party democratic regime that we take for granted in Turkey today is actually the product of 23 years of struggle and search. From the establishment of the Republic until 1946, three attempts were made to transition from a single party to a multi-party. The first of these was in 1924. Progressive Republican Party came up against the Republican People's Party that ruled the country. However, this period, when a new republic was built in pain, did not allow an oppositional voice to survive. The Progressive Party was closed after six months. Some of the rulers were imprisoned. Some of them were sentenced on death rows in the case of the assassination of Atatürk.The second attempt was made six months later, in 1930, with the Free Party. But the Free Party survived only 97 days.Finally, after another 16 years, the Democrat Party came in 1946 and the one-party regime became history for Turkey, never to return.
Societies, like people, have turning points in their histories. These milestones sometimes silently and spontaneously knock on the door, and sometimes they explode like a terrifying thunderclap. The year 1950 was such a turning point for Turkey. A simmering social reaction against 27 years of power erupted in the spring of 1950. Society has cracked its quarter-century shell. Not by shedding blood in the streets, but by voting at the ballot boxes. "Demirkırat" was reared by the general vote. That's why the 14 May 1950 elections were always called the "White Revolution"...
1998
Turkish democracy got over May 27 and March 12 and set off again, but the storm did not subside, and the mutual reckoning was not over. On the contrary, new fronts were opened in the country and blood began to flow like a gutter. Finally, on September 12, there was a knock on the door again. Those who came that day changed everything, everything. Nothing will ever be the same again
It's easy to say... After 23 years of single-party rule, Turkey decided to try democracy once again in 1946. In every attempt up to that time, the regime had been turned upside down and given up in a short time. Now a new one was coming. Would he be able to reach the multi-party regime that has been pursued since Atatürk this time? The calendar of democracy began to run on the morning of Monday, January 7, 1946. That day was a turning point in Turkish political history. The Republic of Turkey woke up with a single party in the morning, it was now multi-party...
The spring of 1950 was also the spring of the multi-party regime in Turkey. A new 10 years, a new regime, a new government. The first test of democracy was beginning. The National Chief of the single-party period had returned to his Pink Mansion. The address of the opposition was clear now. When it comes to power... Power was shared by a tripartite trivet from the first day: DP Group in the Parliament. Celal Bayar in the Mansion and Adnan Menderes in the Prime Ministry..
We came to the end of the road. We told you the story of the establishment of a democracy throughout 9 episodes... We witnessed the collapse of a one-party regime. We witnessed the disappearance of the national chiefdom. Together we experienced the holding of the first free general elections and the raising of democracy in pain. And finally, we told you about the birth, rise and fall of a new power. Where we ended up was a military intervention. Whatever the reasons, the storm of revolution had blown once. Now the task of the officers who seized power on the morning of May 27 was to contain that storm. But it didn't. After a while, the storm started to drag the revolutionaries in front of it. The historical scenario was repeated. The Revolution ate some of their children. The revolution was now speaking its own language...
Looking back at the turmoil of the 1950s today, it's hard not to be sad. Even though one knows the end of the story, he is always waiting for something to happen to prevent this bitter ending. He wants the mistakes made to be noticed, a common point to be agreed and the accident that says I am coming to be prevented. But in vain... After the accident today, all we can do is look at the causes of the accident and learn from it... Beginning from the mid-1950s, the democracy, which was knitted stitch by knot before, began to unravel again, stitch by stitch. A tense, harsh, vicious period has opened in the political arena... It seemed impossible to see the future and take precautions in that dusty smoke...
1994
Staff Colonel Talat Aydemir... Aydemir's February 22 rebellion was the first revolutionary attempt in Turkey that faced resistance. But it was also the most dangerous... The thing the army feared most happened to him. The most undesirable possibility of the commanders in charge came true and friction broke out between the armies. At that time, the commander of 27 May, Cemal Aga, was appointed to the presidency, but the discomfort did not end. A group led by Colonel Talat Aydemir sought to intervene again. However, a part of the army, especially the Air Force, left Aydemir alone at the last moment. Talat was still strong in Ankara. In order to break this power, Prime Minister İnönü found the formula to dismiss the leaders of the rebel officers and appoint them to the East. Here is February 22, the day when these appointments will be announced to the rebels. The apocalypse was expected that day. And it broke that day...
