1997 Turkish military memorandum

The 1997 military memorandum (Turkish: 28 Şubat, "28 February"; also called postmodern darbe, "post-modern coup") in Turkey refers to a memorandum, in which decisions issued by the Turkish military leadership on a National Security Council meeting on 28 February 1997 resulted in the resignation of Islamist prime minister Necmettin Erbakan of the Welfare Party, and the end of his coalition government.

[1] As the government was forced out without dissolving the parliament or suspending the constitution,[2] the event has been famously labelled a "postmodern coup" by the Turkish admiral Salim Dervişoğlu.

The operation was planned by generals İsmail Hakkı Karadayı, Çevik Bir, Teoman Koman, Çetin Doğan, Necdet Timur, and Erol Özkasnak.

On 17 January 1997, during a visit to the Turkish General Staff, President Süleyman Demirel requested a briefing on common military problems.

[8] On 31 January 1997, protests were arranged by the Sincan municipality in Ankara, against Israeli human rights violations that took place in guise of an "Al-Quds night".

At the National Security Council (MGK) meeting on 28 February 1997, the generals submitted their views on issues regarding secularism and political Islam on Turkey to the government.

Erbakan was banned from politics for five years, and former MP members and mayors of RP joined the successor Virtue Party.

In 2024, Bir, Doğan and five other senior officers were pardoned by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, by then the country's president, on account of ill health and old age.