Coup d'état

A coup d'état (/ˌkuː deɪˈtɑː/  listen ; French: [ku deta], literally "blow of state"; plural: coups d'état, pronounced like the singular form), also known simply as a coup (/ˌkuː/), or an overthrow, is the sudden and illegal seizure of a state, usually instigated by a small group of the existing government establishment to depose the established regime and replace it with a new ruling body. A coup d'état is considered successful when the usurpers establish their dominance and legitimacy. If a coup fails, a civil war may ensue.

A coup d'état typically uses the extant government's power to assume political control of a country. In Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook, military historian Edward Luttwak states that a coup "consists of the infiltration of a small, but critical, segment of the state apparatus, which is then used to displace the government from its control of the remainder". The armed forces, whether military or paramilitary, can be a defining factor of a coup d'état.

Etymology

1980 Turkish coup d'état

The 12 September 1980 Turkish coup d'état, headed by Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren, was the third coup d'état in the history of the Republic after the 1960 coup and the 1971 "Coup by Memorandum", the 1970s were marked by right-wing/left-wing armed conflicts, often at the scale of proxy wars between the United States and the Soviet Union, respectively. To create a pretext for a decisive intervention, the Turkish military allowed these conflicts in Turkey to escalate; some say they actively adopted a strategy of tension. The violence abruptly stopped afterwards, and the coup was welcomed by some for restoring order. In total, 50 people were executed, 500,000 were arrested and hundreds died in prison.

For the next three years the Turkish Armed Forces ruled the country through the National Security Council, before democracy was restored.

Prelude

In 1975 Süleyman Demirel, president of the conservative Justice Party (Turkish: Adalet Partisi, AP) succeeded Bülent Ecevit, president of the social-democratic Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP) as Prime Minister. He formed a coalition with the Nationalist Front (Turkish: Milliyetçi Cephe), Necmettin Erbakan's Islamist National Salvation Party (Turkish: Millî Selamet Partisi, MSP) and Alparslan Türkeş' far right Nationalist Movement Party (Turkish: Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP). The MHP used the opportunity to infiltrate state security services, seriously aggravating the low-intensity war that was waging between rival factions.

1971 Turkish military memorandum

The 1971 Turkish military memorandum, issued on 12 March that year, was the second military intervention take place in the Republic of Turkey, coming 11 years after its 1960 predecessor. Known as the "coup by memorandum", which the military delivered in lieu of sending out tanks, as it had done previously, it came amid worsening domestic strife, but ultimately did little to halt this phenomenon.

Background

As the 1960s wore on, violence and instability plagued Turkey. An economic recession late that decade sparked a wave of social unrest marked by street demonstrations, labour strikes and political assassinations. Left-wing workers' and students' movements were formed, countered on the right by Islamist and militant nationalist groups. The left carried out bombing attacks, robberies and kidnappings; from the end of 1968, and increasingly during 1969 and 1970, left-wing violence was matched and surpassed by far-right violence, notably from the Grey Wolves. On the political front, Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel's centre-right Justice Party government, re-elected in 1969, also experienced trouble. Various factions within his party defected to form splinter groups of their own, gradually reducing his parliamentary majority and bringing the legislative process to a halt.