By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's Democrat Party (DP) leader on Monday commemorated the 57th death anniversary of former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes who was executed after the 1960 military coup.
The Turkey’s ninth prime minister and first popularly elected leader, Menderes, was one of the leaders who founded the DP on January 7, 1946.
He was hanged on Sept. 17, 1961, following the military coup on May 27, 1960.
“The nation's will was usurped on May 27… What is worse, it [military coup] become a model for subsequent coups and anti-democratic plots, ” Gultekin Uysal told Anadolu Agency at the Turkish parliament in capital Ankara.
Uysal also said that May 27 was a beginning “that shows us who were the murderers. ”
Menderes served as Turkey's prime minister from 1950 to 1960 before he was ousted by the military junta.
He was arrested along with all leading DP members — Fatin Rustu Zorlu and Hasan Polatkan — following the May 27, 1960, military coup, and were later jailed and tried.
They were accused of violating the constitution as well as embezzling money from state funds and were put on trial by a military court on the island of Yassiada, located in the Sea of Marmara to the southeast of Istanbul.
Following the court's verdict, Menderes was hanged along with Zorlu and Polatkan on the island of Imrali in the Sea of Marmara after a year-long trial.
“We saw on July 15 that the coups are still alive in the mind of some malign souls, ” Uysal added, citing the defeated coup in 2016.
The party leader called for strengthening Turkey's democracy to defeat pro-coup mindsets.
FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.
Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.
– Commemoration ceremonies
Nation-wide ceremonies were held to commemorate the death anniversary of the former prime minister.
In Istanbul, a commemoration ceremony was held in Topkapi neighborhood, where Menderes’ memorial tomb is located. The Quran was recited and people prayed for him.
Menderes was also remembered in his hometown of Kocarli in the Aegean province of Aydin.
Commemoration ceremonies were held in other Turkish provinces, including capital Ankara, southeastern Diyarbakir, Sirnak, and Batman, southern Adana, Mersin, and Hatay, as well as central Kayseri and northern Gumushane provinces.
*Nilay Kar contributed this report from Istanbul
