On September 12, 1980, at three in the morning, Türkiye woke up with goosebumps. On September 12, Chief of the General Staff Kenan Evren headed the National Security Council together with Army Commander Nurettin Ersin, Air Force Commander Tahsin Sahinkaya, Navy Commander Nezat Tumer and Gendarmerie Chief Sendat Gelasun. Kenan Evren, head of the Council, was declared head of state. The impact of the events of September 12, which marked the socio-political spectrum of the country for several decades, cannot be understood without briefly touching on the reasons that led to the intervention of the army.

Political and social chaos of the 70s

Daily assassinations of politicians, intellectuals and leftists, resulting in the daily death toll rising rapidly, creating a big security breach in the country.

In addition, there was the failure of the Turkish National Assembly to elect the President of the Republic when 124 votes were actually taken, the last shortly before 12 September. An important development that contributed to the rush on September 12 was what happened to the “Save Jerusalem” night, during which participants blocked the recitation of the national anthem while chanting “Long Live Sharia.” The aforementioned impossibility of electing the President of the Republic showed that the elections would not be held in a democratic way. For the aforementioned reasons, Kenan Evren legalized the intervention of the army.

The economy was in deep recession until September 12th. In 1979, inflation reached 70% and the next year it exceeded 100%, while the rapid rise in the cost of basic goods and a sharp rise in unemployment created serious problems in the daily life of a Turkish citizen. However, the main problem Turkey faced was economic introversion, which hampered its entry into international markets. Turgut Özal, then a high-ranking Gosplan official, attempted to “break” this introversion by formulating an economic program called “January 24 Decisions” on the orders of Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel. The mentioned program was developed in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, and its main meaning was to harmonize the Turkish economy, which was of a state nature, with international markets and functioned on the basis of market rules. Thus, Turkey gradually began to adopt the model of neo-liberalism, and, as Ozal emphasized: “The economic program that we are implementing is the same as that of President Reagan. Our only difference is that we started implementing it earlier.”

Severe restrictions on civil rights

Once in power, the September 12 regime took drastic measures that significantly affected the political and social life of the neighbor. Among them were the overthrow of the government of Suleiman Demirel, a decision was made to lift immunity from parliamentarians, all political parties were banned, political leaders Suleiman Demirel, Bulent Ecevit, Necmetin Erbakan and Alparslan Turkes were removed from Ankara and deprived of political rights, it was announced throughout the country a state of emergency and a curfew was declared, with many public institutions placed under the control of the military.

After the evening of September 12, the conflicts between right and left completely ceased, and in fact many left and right, mostly members of the nationalist movement, were accused by the regime of anarchy, of following Sharia and of activities that threatened national security. the security of the country. With regard to the economy, the September 12 regime adopted and implemented the decisions of January 24 irregularly. 1981 was named the year of Atatürk and celebrations were organized.

One of the paradoxes of that period is that in the referendum held on November 7, 1982, Kenan Evren was elected president of the state with 91.4% of the vote, and thus became the first president of the republic in Turkey, elected directly by the people. The argument used by Evren was that “if “yes” is not heard, we will return to the past.”

But the black page in Turkey’s history is called the arrests of thousands of dissidents. According to official figures, 650,000 people were arrested, 230,000 were tried by military courts, 1,683,000 were under regime surveillance, 171 died under torture, and 48 were executed.

Long-term effects of measures

The September 12 regime abolished the hijab. Prior to 1980, there was no law prohibiting this. With the establishment of the Turkish Republic in the spirit of French secularism, there was no law prohibiting the wearing of the hijab, because in the public sector workers did not wear it. In the 1960s, as the number of female students wearing hijabs increased, this problem began to resurface. A typical example is the case of Hatice Babacan, the aunt of Ali Babacan, one of the leaders of the current opposition in Turkey, who in 1967 attended courses at the theological faculty of Ankara University. Because she wore a headscarf, she was expelled from school. In the same year, she entered another faculty of the university and completed her studies without any problems. In 1978, the then government of the Republican People’s Party issued Circular No. 52, according to which women working in the public sector were henceforth required to come to their workplace without a hijab. Men were also included in the circular, emphasizing that they will come to their workplace in a tie and with a short haircut. In 1980, the September 12 regime abolished the wearing of the hijab in all public places.

“September 12 Regime”, “Dictatorship”, “Revolution”, or “Operation Flag” are the official names given to the new regime. We must emphasize that, despite the criticism, two very important facts cannot be overlooked: in the economic field, he laid the foundations for Turkey’s entry into the spirit of neoliberalism, and in the political field, he laid the foundations for the strengthening of the Islamic movement in the following decades, which greatly weakened the left. .

Mr. Christos Theasis is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Political Science at Ankara University.