TURKEY: The People's Choice

The revolution began at midnight and was over within six hours. Shortly before dawn, radios rasped: "The Turkish armed forces have taken over the administra tion of the country." Thus, in a blink of history's eye, ended the ten-year rule of highhanded, dictatorial Premier Adnan Menderes.

A patriot who kept his country firmly aligned with the West, Menderes had driven his country so close to ruin with showy projects ranging from dams to mosques that he had to be repeatedly bailed out by U.S. money. A onetime democrat, he had become so iras cible under criticism that he had progressively choked the press and whittled away at freedom of speech for opposition politicians.

The coup was a total surprise. Despite four weeks of sporadic anti-Menderes demonstrations by students and cadets in Ankara and Istanbul, few had suspected that the ebullient Premier was really in jeopardy. His party commanded an almost 3-to-1 majority in the Assembly, and outside the sophisticated urban centers, his popularity among the peasant population remained high. Until the radio blared its stunning news, many Turks had never even heard of General Cemal Gursel, the longtime professional soldier who led the revolt.

Matter of Timing. The operation was a masterwork of organization. By 3:30 a.m., army, navy and air units, backed by tanks, held all key points. In all Turkey only one man was killed—an army lieutenant who was shot when an excited cop pulled a gun as the officer entered an Ankara post office. Officers found President Celal Bayar (who recently told a Western diplomat: "We are going to crush opposition") at his palace. Bayar flourished a pistol and his daughter threw a kitchen knife at the officers before they could hustle him off to "protective custody" in the War College barracks in Ankara. The Justice Minister was yanked from an automobile luggage compartment; the Foreign Minister took refuge with his father-in-law's chauffeur; the Interior Minister was found in hiding in the bathroom.

Arrest on the Road. Premier Menderes was spending the night at a guesthouse at a new sugar mill in Eskisehir, where that day he had denounced the lawyers and professors who had criticized his most recent efforts to repress opposition, and told cheering supporters: "They think they can bring us down, but they cannot. We are too strong. We will fix them." Around midnight, pleasantly warmed by raki. he went to bed.

In the corridor outside his bedroom door, the air force colonel commanding the Premier's personal guard waited for his 3 a.m. deadline to arrest his boss. He did not hear the phone ring at Menderes' bedside. The call—from a district mili tary commander—passed along a warning tip from Menderes' loyal army chief. General Rustu Erdelhun. Menderes dressed and tiptoed into the adjoining room, where his Finance Minister, Hasan Polatkan, slept. Together they planned their flight.

Back at the sugar mill, the colonel hastily raised the alarm that Menderes had fled. U.S.-made F-100jet fighters took off from the nearby airbase, spotted the car speeding through the night. Outside Ku-tahya a roadblock was set up. The limousine jerked to a halt. "So you are going to arrest me," said Menderes. "Yes, sir," said an officer. Finance Minister Polatkan fainted.