Word: gursel
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...right to strike. As the pundits saw it, some "no" voters wanted to show their disapproval of the Republicans; others felt that a vote against the constitution might save Menderes & Co. from the gallows; still others were trying to voice dissatisfaction with the regime of General Cemal Gursel, whose military coup had thrown the Menderes government out of power in May 1960. Reportedly, some Menderes supporters in rural areas campaigned for "no" votes by telling credulous peasants that a "yes" would bring to power an infidel named "Mister Referendum." who would close mosques, substitute Christianity for Islam, and pack their...
Seven months ago, when Turkey's Strongman General Cemal Gursel ordered the leaders of the deposed regime of Adnan Menderes to stand trial, expectation was that their cases would be wrapped up expeditiously, the junta's revolt against the Menderes government vindicated neatly, and Menderes & Co. put out of the way conveniently. But by last week, the i sth trial on Yassiada Island ended inconclusively, the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th trials were under way, the 1,000th witness took the stand to give testimony, and the Turks were frankly tired of the whole thing...
Deep Worry. Impatient with a trial in which their former leaders have been continually harassed, humiliated, cajoled and insulted, ex-Democrats are showing mounting defiance. Statues and pictures of Kemal Ataturk, the professed idol of both Gursel and Inonu, are defaced and disfigured regularly in provincial Democratic strongholds. Anonymous hate letters trickle in to members of the junta. And although the junta ostensibly ignores these signs, indications are that privately it is deeply worried. Thousands of ex-Democrats have been clapped in jail on the strength of mere denunciations, and only last week 161 were rounded up in an alleged...
Unvindicated morally, facing a growing though still underground challenge, the junta is in a quandary. Its members are committed by Cemal Gursel's word to hold free elections by October at the latest. But if they hang Menderes and Bayar, how will the predictably sharpened rancor among Democrats weigh in the election? Cynics suggest that the junta should have shot Menderes and Bayar as soon as they got their hands on them. Sighed an Istanbul businessman: "The greatest error was attempting to carry out the trials in a legal...
Before long, 22 of the coffin snatchers were securely locked up in Istanbul. The incident served as a reminder that Menderes, though currently on trial for his life, and his Democratic Party, though officially banned, still have a following. Gursel's junta, after nine months in power and nearly as many months of hesitation, recently gave all political parties except Communists and Menderes' Democrats the go-ahead to operate freely once again. Eleven new parties materialized, including one made up wholly of army officers forcibly retired by the junta. The scramble for the Democrats' onetime...