TURKEY: The Generals Take Over Again

A rising tide of political violence spurs a reluctant coup

For months, Turkey's generals had warned squabbling politicians to stop feuding and start working together to help end the country's surging factional violence. But the bickering continued, and the death toll from leftist and rightist terrorism mounted from an average of six a day in January to 18 a day so far in September, and to the point where there was talk of imminent civil war. After one particularly bloody stretch, General Kenan Evren, Turkey's chief of staff, complained: "Everyone speaks of national unity, but unfortunately, everyone fails to bring it about."

Finally the military took matters into its own hands. Shortly after midnight last Friday, tanks, armored personnel carriers and ground troops fanned out through Turkey's capital city, surrounding government buildings and setting up roadblocks. In a bloodless coup, a National Security Council, composed of six generals, replaced the democratically elected government of Premier Süleyman Demirel. Evren, 62, a political moderate who heads the junta, said in a radio announcement that the army had moved to prevent "followers of fascist and Communist ideologies, as well as religious fanatics, from destroying the Turkish Republic."

Striking quickly in the night, the army detained 120 of the country's leading politicians, government officials and trade union leaders. Demirel, leader of the Justice Party, was taken under escort to a military camp in Gallipoli, southwest of Istanbul, as was Bülent Ecevit, head of the opposition Republican People's Party. Martial law, which was already in effect in 20 of Turkey's 67 provinces, was imposed nationwide. A curfew was declared, and frontiers and airports were closed. The generals dissolved parliament, banned all political and trade union activity, and announced that they would run Turkey "until necessary laws are prepared for the smooth functioning of a parliamentary democracy."

Twice before, in 1960 and 1971, the military had intervened to get the civilian government on track; each time the generals handed power back to the politicians as soon as possible. Indeed, the Turkish constitution authorizes the military to step in whenever the security of the state is in jeopardy. As their repeated warnings to the government indicated, Evren and his colleagues were anything but eager to take over. They were aware that a suspension of parliamentary government would threaten vital economic aid from the West and that military rule might even encourage further terrorist activity.

It was the near paralysis of government that forced the military's hand. With Demirel unable to muster a majority in parliament and with Ecevit anxious to foil him at every turn, the legislature has not been able to enact a law for at least six months. Its efforts to elect a new President have stretched unsuccessfully—and somewhat comically—over more than 100 ballots. Even a package of antiterrorist measures supported by both men has sunk into the partisan quicksand. Demirel's right-center party could probably win a majority if Turks went to the polls tomorrow, but Ecevit's left-center group and a small bloc of Islamic fundamentalists have stymied attempts to move the elections up from next June.