On February 28, 1997, Turkey’s military overthrew the Welfare Party-led coalition government, headed by the late Necmettin Erbakan, not by a direct coup but through deft behind-the-scenes political maneuvering
Two decades ago, leading generals overthrew the democratically-elected conservative government. It was dubbed the"postmodern coup" because it was carried out without overt force. TRT World spoke to two major figures who tried to stop it.
The two old friends met in the headquarters of the Gendarmerie General Command in Turkey's capital Ankara in mid-September 1996. Koman had reason to believe that Guzel would be sympathetic to his proposal. The generals were disturbed by the growing popularity of the Welfare Party , Erbakan's religiously-inspired party which had won the largest bloc in parliament for the first time in 1996. The view thatwas a leading existential danger to the Turkish state also coincided with NATO's changing threat perceptions during that period.
"Following the [military's] intervention, we intend to install you or Mesut Yilmaz [the leader of the Motherland Party, a mainstream conservative party] as prime minister," Koman said to Guzel. "I also informed him about military's preparations. He was extraordinarily intelligent and knew me very well," Guzel said. "He took me seriously."
Five months later, on February 4, 1997, 20 tanks and 15 armoured vehicles drove through the streets of Ankara in an ominous warning to the government. On February 28, the military issued a stern memorandum against the Erbakan-led coalition government. The statement condemned the Welfare Party and its coalition partner the True Path Party , another conservative party that had long been led by Demirel himself, for allegedly violating the country's "secularist nature.
Because he had sided with the civilian government, Orakoglu was convicted of spying against the military. The sentence was handed down by a court which was heavily influenced by the generals. "The monitoring and blacklisting activities of the BCG were illegal because you cannot blacklist people as long as they have not committed crimes," Orakoglu said. "According to some estimates, they had blacklisted as many as 11 million people.
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