1980 coup
Between 1979 and 1980, the government of Süleymán Demirel decided to stop the alliance with Western countries, and with it, the hope of development of the private sector of the economy, which was supported by foreign aid. The Republican Party requested state control of the elementary means of production and the establishment of new alliances with the Third World and the communist bloc.
Extremist groups on the left and right again carried out the assassinations of political figures and carried out terrorist actions. The December of September of 1980, the army took control of the government and suspended the constitution. The new rulers imposed martial law, banned political activity, limited the right to the press and imprisoned thousands of citizens, accused of terrorists.
The Army ruled through the National Security Council, which appointed General Kenan Evren head of state, while Admiral Bülent Ulusu became Prime Minister.
Return to democracy
According to youremailverifier.com, the greatest advance towards the establishment of a civil government took place in 1982, when a new Constitution was promulgated, by which Evren was appointed President of the Republic. The parliamentary elections of November 1983 were an overwhelming victory for the Party of the Motherland (which had the support of the Army for its conservative right-wing character), whose top leader, Turgut Ozal, was appointed prime minister.
In 1989, Ozal was elected as the first civil head of state since 1960, and Yilidirim Akbulut replaced him as prime minister. Akbulut was replaced by Mesut Yilmaz in 1991, in turn replaced by economist Tansu Çiller in 1993, leader of the Straight Path Party. Turkey collaborated with international forces in the Iraqi expulsion from Kuwait between 1990 and 1991, although the Turkish troops did not participate in the Persian Gulf War. Following the war, and following an unfortunate uprising by the Iraqi Kurds, hundreds of thousands of refugees crossed the border into Turkey, although refugee camps were established under Allied administration in the vicinity of the Turkish border.
Since 1984, an undeclared war has been going on between successive Turkish governments and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Marxist-Leninist group that is trying to achieve the autonomy of the lands of 15 million Kurds by methods. terrorists.
The conflict is mainly located in the southeast of the country where the largest concentration of Kurdish population meets. In March 1995, the government of Tansu Çiller showed its intention to destroy the separatist movement, invading 40 kilometers of the Kurdish region located northwest of Iraq and which was a protected area of the United Nations. At the same time, the government passed more liberal laws allowing for the legalization of moderate Kurdish nationalist groups and the reopening of Kurdish schools.
2016 coup
In the evening hours of the 15 of July of 2016 they began circulating in Ankara dozens of military vehicles and aircraft. Moments later, an official statement confirmed that a faction of the Turkish Army was attempting to seize power and overthrow the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the midst of these actions, a total of 265 people died, including 161 government and civilian forces and 104 of the conspirators, 1,440 were injured and 2,839 soldiers were arrested after the failure of the coup [1] [2] .
The country’s Superior Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK for its acronym in Turkish) dismissed 2,745 judges for their alleged links to the cleric Fetulá Gulen, an exile in the United States who defends the creation of a parallel state in Turkey.
2017 Constitutional Reform Plebiscite
In 2017, the Turks go to the polls to vote on a constitutional reform Plebiscite that proposes the transition from a parliamentary model to the presidential one, having an acceptance of 51.32 percent of support, compared to 48.68 percent of those who They are against.
With this modification, all the executive power will be concentrated in the hands of the president and the figure of prime minister will be eliminated. In addition, the head of state may appoint vice presidents, ministers and senior officials and presidential decrees will influence decisions on the creation, dissolution, functions and structure of the ministries.
The president also obtains the right to announce the state of emergency with the approval of Parliament, appoint various members of the highest judicial body of the country and may issue decrees without the approval of legislators. These changes to the constitution will take effect from 2019.
Many international observers who accompanied this process contested the result since the legal framework was inadequate for the realization of a genuinely democratic process. This was stated by the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Cezar Florin who also assured that the state of emergency should never be used to undermine the rule of law.
For many of the international observers, the regulations and instructions adopted by the Higher Electoral Council (YSK) are insufficient for the holding of a democratic referendum.
