Adnan Menderes: Rise and fall of Turkey’s first democratic leader

Süleyman Demirel, who ruled Turkey as Prime Minister and President at different times, once remarked, “24 hours is too long for Turkish politics.” Indeed, both historical and recent events, even up to the present day, prove Demirel’s statement to be true. A look at Turkish history reveals that, until recently, the military has had the power to impose its will on the government and stage coups at will. Among these are the coups of 1960, 1971, 1980, 1997, and 2007. Though not all of these succeeded the army, they created major disruptions for the government, and controlling the influence of the military remains a critical issue. It is widely acknowledged that the attempted coup in 2016 marked a turning point in this struggle.

But this article is not about that. Instead, we focus on the tragic fate of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, one of the most renowned and controversial victims of a military coup in the second half of the 20th century.

From Football to Politics

The transition from football to politics in Turkey is not unique to President Erdoğan; it has long been a tradition within Turkish political life. Adnan Menderes followed a similar path. Born into a wealthy landowning family, Menderes lost his parents and sister early in life and was raised by his grandmother, who oversaw his early education. He studied at the Union and Progress Primary School in Izmir, followed by the American College of Izmir, where he also trained as a reserve officer. However, due to contracting malaria, he was unable to serve on the front lines during World War I.

As a young man, Menderes worked as a farmer on the land he inherited from his father. Later, he sold most of this land to small shareholders and kept only one farm, where he applied modern agricultural methods. Although he initially aspired to play professional football, this dream never came to fruition.

In 1928, Menderes entered the world of politics through marriage. He wed Fatma Berin, whose family had strong political connections. With support from his mother-in-law, Menderes joined political circles and took part in several movements led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. In 1931, he was elected as a deputy for his hometown under the banner of Atatürk’s Republican People’s Party (CHP), then the only legal party in Turkey, which followed a strict pro-Western orientation.

While working as a deputy, Menderes also pursued legal studies in Ankara. Unlike the CHP’s rigid stance, which rejected many cultural and religious traditions, Menderes held a more tolerant view. After 15 years in the CHP, ideological conflicts led to his expulsion from the party in 1945, along with several other deputies. This expulsion would turn out to be one of the CHP’s greatest miscalculations.

In 1946, Menderes, along with Celal Bayar, Fuat Köprülü, and Refik Koraltan—also expelled from the CHP—founded the Democratic Party (DP). This marked the end of the one-party system in Turkey and created the country’s first real opposition party. Consequently, Turkey held its first free elections since the founding of the Republic. In the 1950 elections, the Democratic Party won a landslide victory, securing 408 out of 487 parliamentary seats with 53% of the vote. Menderes became Prime Minister, and his mentor Celal Bayar was elected President.

The Return of the Arabic Call to Prayer

Once in office, Menderes and his team implemented their agenda. He distanced his administration from the CHP’s radical rejection of traditional lifestyles and values, instead promoting a more balanced relationship between religion and secularism—an approach aligned with genuine democracy.

Though his foreign policy remained pro-Western, Menderes sought closer ties with Muslim nations and recognized the enduring religious sentiments of the population. He began to moderate the harsh anti-religious stance of Atatürk and the CHP, taking steps to limit radical secularism without favoring either religious or secular segments of society. His most symbolic reform was reinstating the use of Arabic for the Islamic call to prayer.

However, these reforms became the pretext for efforts to remove him from power. On June 6, 1950, a military coup was attempted against Menderes. The official reason, as usual, was that he was undermining secularism. However, the coup failed, and 15 generals and 150 colonels involved were arrested and dismissed.

Following this, Turkey embarked on a wave of political and economic reforms under Menderes' leadership. The country began adopting an open-market economy. In foreign affairs, Menderes strengthened ties with the United States, sending troops to Korea in 1950. This decision helped secure Turkey's admission to NATO in 1952.

Reforms and Mistakes

During his tenure in the 1950s and early 1960s, Menderes took major steps to revive the Turkish economy. He maintained strong relations with Western powers and introduced modern technologies, especially in agriculture, with the help of U.S. and British business interests. Under the Marshall Plan, Turkey received $2.5 billion in loans from the U.S., laying the foundation for economic growth.

Between 1950 and 1954, the Turkish economy expanded rapidly, with annual GDP growth averaging 9%. Foreign companies were allowed to explore for oil, and the government passed legislation encouraging foreign investment. Menderes's success in the agricultural sector—his area of expertise—boosted his popularity among farmers. His party once again triumphed in the 1954 elections, and he continued as Prime Minister.

However, events soon turned against him. Economic mismanagement led to a downturn. Despite the growing crisis, Menderes still enjoyed public support and won the 1957 elections. But this would be his final political victory. By 1958, problems began to mount. Turkey faced difficulties repaying foreign debt and suffered the worst currency devaluation in its history. The Turkish lira plummeted from 2 to 9 per U.S. dollar, and the country defaulted on $600 million in debt.

These economic troubles, combined with factory closures and rising unemployment, created fertile ground for a military coup. In 1959, Menderes narrowly escaped death when his plane crashed en route to London to sign the Cyprus Agreement. Sixteen people died, but Menderes was among the ten survivors, returning home to a hero’s welcome in Ankara.

Nevertheless, his fate was sealed. By 1960, opposition to Menderes intensified. Two days of violence against Istanbul's Greek minority, his affair with Turkish singer Aydan Ayhan, and the scandal involving their stillborn child, student unrest, and the deteriorating economy brought Turkey to the brink of another military intervention.

Military Coup and Execution

On May 25, 1960, a military coup led by General Cemal Gürsel overthrew the Menderes government and arrested 453 officials. In October, trials began against Menderes, President Celal Bayar, and other Democratic Party leaders. The proceedings lasted 11 months and included 287 sessions. In the end, 14 people were sentenced to death, 31 to life imprisonment, and 418 to prison terms ranging from 6 months to 20 years.

Adnan Menderes was convicted on 12 of 13 charges, including violating the constitution, embezzling state funds, and ordering the 1955 anti-Greek pogrom in Istanbul that killed 57 people. The only charge he was acquitted of was related to the stillborn baby case, with Aydan Ayhan testifying in his defense. But the remaining charges were enough to justify a death sentence.

Despite appeals for clemency from world leaders—including Pakistani President Ayub Khan, Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, French President Charles de Gaulle, Queen Elizabeth II, and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer—the Turkish military court upheld the verdict.

On September 17, 1961, at 1:21 p.m., Adnan Menderes was hanged on Imrali Island in the Sea of Marmara, alongside Foreign Minister Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Finance Minister Hasan Polatkan.

Thus, by restoring religious and national values, Menderes provoked the military, which saw itself as the guardian of Atatürk’s secular legacy. His story illustrates the perils of challenging the entrenched secular order in Turkey. The brief tenure of Islamist Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan in the 1990s and Erdoğan’s imprisonment for reciting a religious poem both echo the same dangers Menderes faced.