During the Cold War era, Turkey saw political violence (1976–1980) between the far-left, the far-right (Grey Wolves), the Islamist militant groups, and the state.
[2][3][4] The violence saw a sharp downturn for a period after the coup, which was welcomed by some for restoring order[5] by quickly executing 50 people and arresting 500,000, of which hundreds would die in prison.
By the end of the 1970s, Turkey was in an unstable situation with unsolved economic and social problems, facing strike actions, and the partial paralysis of parliamentary politics.
Ecevit was warned about the coming coup in June 1979 by Nuri Gündeş of the National Intelligence Organization Turkish: Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı, (MİT)).
Ecevit told his interior minister, İrfan Özaydınlı, who then passed the news on to Sedat Celasun—one of the five generals who would lead the coup.
(The deputy undersecretary of the MİT, Nihat Yıldız, was demoted to the London consulate and replaced by a lieutenant general as a result).
It has been argued that this was a plot on Evren's part to encompass the political spectrum, as Saltık was close to the left, while Ersin took care of the right.
They resolved to issue the party leaders (Süleyman Demirel and Bülent Ecevit) a memorandum by way of the president, Fahri Korutürk, which was done on 27 December.
[16] A second report, submitted in March 1980, recommended undertaking the coup without further delay, otherwise apprehensive lower-ranked officers might be tempted to "take the matter into their own hands".
[16] Evren made only minor amendments to Saltık's plan, titled "Operation Flag" (Turkish: Bayrak Harekâtı).
At the Supreme Military Council meeting (Turkish: Yüksek Askeri Şura) on 26 August, a second date was proposed: 12 September.
The MGK then extended martial law throughout the country, abolished the Parliament and the government, suspended the Constitution and banned all political parties and trade unions.
They invoked the Kemalist tradition of state secularism and in the unity of the nation, which had already justified the precedent coups, and presented themselves as opposed to communism, fascism, separatism and religious sectarianism.
[12] The nation learned of the coup at 4:30 AM UTC+3 on the state radio address announcing that the parliament had been dismissed and that the country was under the control of the Turkish Armed Forces.
As an undersecretary, he played a major role in developing economic reforms, known as the 24 January decisions, which paved the way for greater neoliberalism in the Turkish economy.
After the coup, he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey responsible for the economy in Ulusu's government and continued to implement economic reforms.
Özal supported the International Monetary Fund, and to this end he forced the resignation of the director of the Central Bank, İsmail Aydınoğlu, who opposed it.
The 85% pre-coup level government involvement in the economy forced a reduction in the relative importance of the state sector.
The government froze wages while the economy experienced a significant decrease of the public sector, a deflationist policy, and several successive mini-devaluations.
One notable victim of the hangings was a communist militant alleged 17-year-old Erdal Eren, who said he looked forward to it in order to avoid thinking of the torture he had witnessed.
[25] Following the coup in Colonel Türkeş's indictment, the Turkish press revealed the close links maintained by the MHP with security forces as well as organized crime involved in drug trade, which financed in return weapons and the activities of hired fascist commandos all over the country.
The new constitution brought clear limits and definitions, such as on the rules of election of the president, which was stated as a factor for the coup d'état.
The junta made mandatory the lesson named "Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge", which in practice centers around Sunni Islam.
[citation needed] Source: The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi – TBMM)[27] After the approval by referendum of the new Constitution in June 1982, Kenan Evren organized general elections, held on 6 November 1983.
This democratization has been criticized by the Turkish scholar Ergun Özbudun as a "textbook case" of a junta's dictating the terms of its departure.
[12] Out of the 1983 elections came one-party governance under Turgut Özal's Motherland Party, which combined a neoliberal economic program with conservative social values.
Meanwhile, Süleyman Demirel founded the center-right True Path Party in 1983, and returned to active politics after the 1987 Turkish referendum.
[29] After the 2010 constitutional referendum, an investigation was started regarding the coup, and in June 2011, the Specially Authorized Ankara Deputy Prosecutor's Office asked ex-prosecutor Sacit Kayasu [tr] to forward a copy of an indictment he had prepared for Kenan Evren.
In his 1986 book 12 Eylül: saat 04.00 journalist Mehmet Ali Birand wrote that after the government was overthrown, Henze cabled Washington, saying, "our boys did it.
[36] Two days later Birand replied on CNN Türk's Manşet by saying "It is impossible for me to have fabricated it, the American support to the coup and the atmosphere in Washington was in the same direction.