Adnan Menderes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Adnan Menderes (1899 - September 17, 1961) turkish statesman and Prime minister between 1950–1960.
He was born in 1899 in Aydın, the son of a wealthy landowner. After primary school, Menderes attended the American College in İzmir. He graduated from the Law School of Ankara Üniversitesi in 1935. In 1930, Menderes organized a branch of the short lived "Serbest Fırka" (Free Party) in Aydin. After the ban of this party, he joined Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (Republican People’s Party) and was elected deputy of Aydin in 1931. In 1945, he was expelled from the party with two other colleagues due to inner-party opposition.
On January 7, 1946, he formed the Demokrat Parti (Democratic party), the first legal opposition party in Turkey. He was elected deputy of Kütahya in the 1946 elections and became the highest-ranking man in the party after Celal Bayar. When the DP came to power after the elections on May 14, 1950, Menderes became prime minister, and in 1955 he also assumed the duties of foreign minister. During the 10 years of his term of prime ministry, Turkish domestic and foreign politics underwent great changes. Industrialization and urbanization started in Turkey. Agriculture was mechanized; transport, energy, education, health care, insurance and banking progressed.
In 1955, Menderes was implicated in the organisation of the Istanbul Pogrom, which targeted the city's substantial Greek minority.
Menderes became quite famous for selling or distributing most of the estate he had inherited to small shareholders. He was more tolerant towards traditional lifestyles and different forms of practice of Islam than Atatürk and his party had been - he campaigned in the 1950 elections almost exclusively on the single-issue platform of legalizing the Arabic language adhan, which had been banned by Atatürk.
While remaining pro-Western, he was more active than his predecessors in building relations with Muslim states. Menderes had a more liberal economic policy than earlier prime ministers, and allowed more private enterprise. In general his economic policies made him popular among the poor half of the population, but it also brought the country to insolvency due to an enormous increase in imports of goods and technology.
He was most intolerant towards criticism, so he instituted press censorship and had journalists arrested, as well as attempted to oppress the opposing political parties (predominantly CHP) and take institutions such as universities under his control. Menderes became increasingly unpopular among the intellectuals, university students and the military, who feared that the ideals of Atatürk were in danger. This eventually brought upon him his fall.
On February 17, 1959 Menderes survived a plane crash. The Turkish Airlines plane "Sev" carrying him to London crashed a few miles before the runway.
On May 27, 1960 a military coup toppled the government, and Menderes was arrested along with some other party members, charged with violating the constitution. He was put on trial on the island of Yassıada. The trial also made reference to the Istanbul Pogrom, for which he and his fellow defendants were blamed. He was sentenced to death and, despite the pleas for forgiveness by the President Cemal Gursel along with similar pleas on his sentence coming from several world leaders which were all ignored, he was executed by hanging on the island of İmralı on September 17, 1961. Many years after his death, he was posthumously pardoned and his grave was moved to a mausoleum in İstanbul on September 17, 1990 along with the graves of his two other cabinet members hanged, Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Hasan Polatkan.
A university in Aydin and the international airport in İzmir are named after him. Furthermore, his name was given to two high schools, namely, Istanbul Bahcelievler Adnan Menderes Anadolu Lisesi, and Aydin Adnan Menderes Anadolu Lisesi.
[edit] External links
- Adnan Menderes Turkish Biography
- Cemal Gursel supported him and wanted him to become the Republic's president
| Preceded by: Mehmet Fuat Köprülü |
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey 1955 |
Succeeded by: Fatin Rüştü Zorlu |
| Preceded by: Şemsettin Günaltay |
Prime Minister of Turkey 1950–1960 |
Succeeded by: Cemal Gürsel |
 |
|
 |
| Kunduk | Mollaoğlu | Tengirşenk | İ. İnönü | Kaya | Aras | Saracoğlu | Menemencioğlu | Saka | Sadak | Köprülü | A. Menderes | Zorlu | E. Menderes | Sarper | Erkin |Işık | Çağlayangil |Olcay | Bayülken | Güneş | Esenbel | Ökçün | Erkmen | Ceyhun| Türkmen | Halefoğlu | Yılmaz | Bozer | Alptemoçin | Giray | Çetin | Soysal | Karayalçın | E. İnönü | Kırca | Baykal | Gönensay | Çiller | Cem | Gürel | Yakış | Gül |
|---|
|
|
|
|
| Turkish War of Independence (1920-1923) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Republic of Turkey (1923-present) | ||
| İnönü | Okyar | Bayar | Saydam | Tüzer | Saracoğlu | Peker | Saka | Günaltay | Menderes | Gürsel | Özdilek | Ürgüplü | Demirel | Erim | Melen | Talu | Ecevit | Irmak | Ulusu | Özal | Akbulut | Yılmaz | Çiller | Erbakan | Gül | Erdoğan |
