Cemal Gürsel
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Cemal Gürsel | |
---|---|
Commander of the Turkish Army | |
In office 21 August 1958 – 2 June 1960 | |
Preceded by | Mustafa Rüştü Erdelhun |
Succeeded by | Cevdet Sunay |
Personal details | |
Born | Erzurum, Ottoman Empire | 9 June 1894
Died | 14 September 1966 Ankara, Turkey | (aged 72)
Cause of death | Apoplexy |
Resting place | Turkish State Cemetery |
Nationality | Turkish |
Political party | Independent |
Spouse | |
Children | Özdemir Gürsel Hatice Gürsel (adopted) Türkan Gürsel (adopted) |
Religion | Sunni Islam |
Signature | |
Cemal Gürsel (Turkish: [dʒeˈmal ɟyɾˈsæl]; 9 June 1894 – 14 September 1966) was a Turkish military officer and politician who was the 4th president of Turkey, serving from 1960 to 1966 after taking power in a coup d'état.
Early life
Gürsel was born in the city of
After his release, Cemal Gürsel returned to
Gürsel was married, in 1927, to Melahat, the daughter of the chief engineer on the Ottoman cruiser Hamidiye. From this marriage, a son Özdemir was born. The couple adopted two daughters named Hatice and Türkan.[2]
Military career
Cemal Gürsel attended the
Gürsel, as an easy-going and fatherly figure with a fine sense of humor, was well liked both nationally and in
A farewell letter by him, advocating and urging the army to stay out of politics, was forwarded to all units of the armed forces at the time of his departure on leave. Cemal Gürsel's statement read: 'Always hold high the honor of the army and the uniform you wear. Protect yourselves from the current ambitious and harmful political atmosphere in the country. Stay away from the politics at all cost. This is of utmost importance to your honor, the army's might and the future of the country.' He went to İzmir where he became the president of the Anti-Communism Association of Turkey.
Head of state
A
Gürsel freed 200 students and nine newsmen, and licensed 14 banned newspapers to start publishing again (Time, 6 June 1960). He fetched ten law professors, namely Sıddık Sami Onar, Hıfzı Veldet Velidedeoğlu, Ragıp Sarıca, Naci Şensoy, Hüseyin Nail Kubalı, Tarık Zafer Tunaya, İsmet Giritli, İlhan Arsel, Bahri Savcı and Muammer Aksoy, accompanied by Erdoğan Teziç, a law postgraduate student as their assistant (later Chairman of the Turkish Council of Higher Education), from Istanbul and Ankara Universities to help draft a new constitution on 27 May, right after he arrived in Ankara. During their first meeting with General Cemal Gürsel on the same day, Prof. Onar declared on behalf of the group of law academicians that 'the circumstances of the day should not be interpreted as an ordinary and political coup d'état, implying the revolution being brought by the change process starting in the republic that day. President Cemal Gürsel also formed a scientific council to guide the Ministry of Defence, later forming the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey to advise the government more broadly.
He appointed General
Statesman
Cemal Gürsel rescheduled and attended the previously cancelled
When questioned by a German journalist regarding his intentions on becoming the next president upon proposal of the interim parliament, Cemal Gürsel responded that he was ready to serve only if asked by the nation, not by the interim house. He neither put his own candidacy forward for the presidency nor lobbied for his election or against any other candidate in any way. He offered his endorsement of candidacy of several high rank academicians in Medicine and Sciences in Ankara for both the interim prime minister and future president positions. Gürsel placed a special emphasis on participatory democracy with the promotion of the full interests of the nation's minorities, appointing Turkish Citizen ethnic leaders Hermine Kalustyan of Armenian, Kaludi Laskari of Greek and Erol Dilek of Jewish origin as his "Deputy Representatives of Head of State" and the full members of the interim House of Representatives. The editor of Shalom, Avram Leyon, accompanied him on his travels and foreign state functions. He re-established the freedom of speech that was overwhelmingly taken away from the media organs and from the press by the previous cabinet.
The
With the reduction of tensions between the West and the Soviet bloc, Gürsel sought improved relations for his country's population of 27.8 million with the Soviet Union, such as the initiation of a telephone line agreement, as with the other members of the Western alliance while initiating new credit agreements with the US and the UK as well as bilateral technical and investment relations with Germany in 1960s.
The atomic reactor in Istanbul became operational in 1962 along with his establishment of the first Research and State Library of the government in two years after his administration started. He promoted the grant of the freedom of and the legal
When a Cypriot leader who was exiled out of the UK previously in 1956 on the basis of his struggle for Cypriot independence from the British rule, wanted in November 1963 to amend the basic articles of the 1960 constitution, communal violence ensued and Turkey, Great Britain and Greece, the guarantors of the agreements which had led to Cyprus' independence, wanted to send a
Cemal Gürsel reformed the "Teskilat-i Mahsusa", the "
Gürsel, 40 years after the foundation of the Republic, launched the first
Illness
Because of a
Legacy
Among all of his achievements and great modesty in his down-to-earth plain demeanor, he tried to place the most emphasis on the need for a well-educated youth and a hard-working population with high standards of
Quotes from him
- "I took over the administration of the state to stop the tragic course of events." (Cemal Gürsel, radio address on the evening of 27 May 1960)
- "The network was ready. I personally did not want the army to intervene and had been stopping the attempts (of takeover) of my younger friends. Things reached to such a state that despite my belief that the army should not interfere I let them free in their duties. Now my only goal is to reinstate an administration built on the principles of justice and ethics." (Cemal Gürsel, An interview. Cumhuriyet, 16 July 1960)
- "Those who follow Atatürk will not be left behind." (Cemal Gürsel, from the address on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Atatürk's death, 10 November 1963)
Quotes about him
- "General Gursel may be described as the father of the second Turkish Republic similar to Atatürk being the father of modern Turkey. At a time of deep division, Gursel earned and maintained the respect of the Turkish Nation that regarded him as the symbol of national unity. When he passed away, he had the identity of the trusted father of the nation." (Prof. Bernard Lewis, 15 September 1966)
- "A few days before the coup, it was known that the coup was imminent but General Cemal Gursel was dismissed as a non-political general. No leading role by General Cemal Gursel was determined despite the foreknowledge of the plot." (The CIA; The Inside Story by Andrew Tully, pages 51, 53. Crest books, 1962)
- "On 27 May, he (Cemal Gursel) was hurriedly requested to come (from his residence in İzmir) to the capital (Ankara) to assume the leadership of National Unity Committee." (The Turkish Revolution, Aspects of Military politics. By Walter Weiker. pages 121, 122. The Brookings Institution, 1963)
- "When 27 May revolt occurred, Cemal Gürsel was not a participant. He was invited to become the head due to the circumstances and he willingly accepted." (Burhan Felek, Milliyet, Page 2, 18 September 1971)
- "General Gürsel was brought into the NUC chairmanship by the revolution team when he was in retirement preparation. In actuality he was in the position of a chairman found in last minute with a hurried search. He never was the responsible leader for a true leader is not to be appointed but is self-appointed." (By a leading member of the NUC)
- "One of the core players of the coup, Orhan Erkanli told that they revolted on 27 May without knowing what to do on 28 May. No one, including Cemal Gürsel knew who and how many would be forming the NUC. In actuality, even Cemal Gürsel was brought in later." (Years of Ismet Pasha of our Democracy, 1960–61 by Metin Toker, page 25. Bilgi. 1998)
- "It is now known that the coup was the result of years of planning on the part of conspirators, a number of radical colonels and ranks below in their early forties. He (Cemal Gürsel) was not involved in the details of the organization of the Erik Zurcher. pages 253,254. I.B. Tauris, 2003)
- "We just see that a few very important lines in his letter (to the Minister of Defence) had been censored. That means we are going without learning the true history, without knowing who knows what facts and what true pictures of turning points." (Çetin Altan, Author, Journalist, September 2006)
- "An extremely important document that sheds light on the past has been revealed. Testimony from eyewitnesses at the time helped make known that the letter had been modified after 27 May, but the location of the original letter was unknown. This important document adds a new dimension to the 27 May revolution. We have come face to face with a new document that changes our written history. It was my greatest wish to obtain just such a document; not for my own satisfaction, but for my father, to prove this reality and obtain genuine evidence. I was thrilled when I heard about this." (Mr Aydın Menderes, Author, the Son of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, September 2006)
- "They cut off our phone lines. Adnan Menderes was hung against the regulations. I was supposed to oversee the execution. The revolution tribunal's chief prosecutor Altay Egesel conducted the execution despite not being authorized. İsmet İnönü and Cemal Gürsel were already phoning for him (Adnan Menderes) not to be executed but the telecommunications' office cut off the lines and Egesel made use of the (communication) gap to conduct the execution." (Mehmet Feyyat, District Attorney General, Istanbul Province Prosecutor General 1961, The Administrator of the Imrali Prison, The Lawyer of the Year, Senator. (Reported by Özkan GÜVEN, STAR Newspaper, 13 November 2006 with a summary in Turkish at Law in the Capitol)
- "Where are we now and where are the nations such as Portugal, Greece and Spain with whom we departed for the competition of development in 1960s? While we still crawl around $5000 per capita income, they have caught $20K pci a long while ago. In one word, an embarrassment." (Hasan Cemal, Milliyet, October 2006)
- "We built an automobile with the mentality of the West and we forgot to put gasoline in it with the mentality of the East." (Cemal Gürsel, President, on the Anniversary of the Turkish Republic, 29 October 1963)
See also
- 1962 attempted coup in Turkey
References
- ^ Frank Cecil Roberts, Obituaries from the Times, 1961-1970: including an index to all obituaries and tributes appearing in the Times during the years 1961-1970, Newspaper Archive Developments Ltd., 1975 p. 328.
- ^ "Çankaya'nın First Lady'leri". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 15 April 2007. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
- ^ "Transport of Cemal Gürsel's body to the State Cemetery" (in Turkish). Press Agency of the Turkish Government website. Retrieved 12 November 2006.[dead link]
- Song of The Pharaohs — The Kings of the East and the West
- Analysis of political scene on 26 May 1960, research article (in Turkish)
- General Gursel hosting HM Queen Elizabeth's first visit to Turkey, Ankara, 1961[permanent dead link]
- 1960–1962 Landmarks of Turkish History
- 1963–1966 Landmarks of Turkish History
- The full translated text of Cemal Gursel's letter The research copy of the Turkish original
- Cemal Gursel's Memorandum Revealed
- His video and photographs at the President's Web Page
- Cemal Gursel with Vice President Lyndon Johnson in Ankara, 1962 (Anatolian Agency Album)
- 60's video montage
- U.S. Presidential Messages search Cemal Gursel
- Text of Ankara Agreement
- The movie "The Cars of Revolution"
- His photos in LIFE Magazine[permanent dead link]
- Cyprus, 1964. Video footage of massacres and offensives against Turkish Community
- Cable from US Embassy reflecting collective efforts of Cemal Gursel, Ismet Inonu and his entire cabinet and Gen Cevdet Sunay to stop executions