Türkiye'de on yıllık Demokrat Parti iktidarını sona erdiren ve uzun yıllar askeri vesayetin siyaset üzerinde baskı kurmasına neden olan 27 Mayıs 1960 darbesi, gerek sebepleri gerekse de sonuçları açısından dikkatle incelenmesi gereken bir tarihi olaydır. 27 Mayıs'a nasıl gelindiği ve darbe sonrası ülkenin içine düştüğü durum, aradan geçen bunca zamana rağmen hala tartışılırken, olaylar ideolojik bakış açısının etkisiyle maalesef tam olarak aydınlatılamamıştır. Bu bağlamda geçmişte de günümüzde de döneme ilişkin birçok spesifik çalışma yapılmıştır ve bundan sonra da yapılmaya devam edecektir. Ancak şurası muhakkaktır ki darbe tek taraflı bir eylem olarak gerçekleşmemiş, DP'nin özellikle 1957 seçimlerinden sonraki uygulamaları ve iktidara muhalif olan tüm kesimlerin tutumları askeri ister istemez siyasetin içerisine çekmiştir. Asker ise darbe sonrası uygulamalarla, özellikle de Başbakan Adnan Menderes, Dışişleri Bakanı Fatin Rüştü Zorlu ve Maliye Bakanı Hasan Polatkan'ın idamına hükmederek, halkın önemli bir kesiminin düşmanlığını kazanmış ve bundan sonraki askeri müdahalelere örnek teşkil etmesinin yanında, intikam duygusunun her dönemde, 1972'deki idamlar sırasında olduğu gibi, canlı kalmasına sebep olmuştur. Bu makalede 27 Mayıs darbesinin belli sebepleri ve sonuçları ile siyaset üzerinde bıraktığı izler arşiv belgeleri, dönemin basını ve diğer kaynaklar çerçevesinde değerlendirilmiştir

In parallel with examples of many countries in the World, the army has been involved in politics in almost every era and become one of the policy makers in Turkey. In the last period of the Ottoman Empire, during the First World War and the War of Independence and in the establishment of the new Turkish State, the army has always been at the forefront, served as savior and undertaker of the country. Although this sense of duty was for the benefit of state and people in some certain periods, it has caused emergence of some events put country's democratization back as experienced on May 27th 1960, March 12th 1971, September 12th 1980 and February 28th 1997, respectively. The coup of May 27th has led up to a total change and revolution; on the other hand, it resulted in establishment of a political tutelage on politics on legal grounds by guardianship of the Constitution. In this context, the coup of May 27th has become an example for other interventions and paved the way for the formation of consciousness to have revenge from Democratic Party by post-coup constitution. However, it has also established a ground to have revenge of the coup of May 27th in the subsequent military interventions. In May 1950, while the ruling power of Republican Party was over after 27 years and transferred to Democratic Party (DP), the pluralistic democracy was also being tested. In 1950 and 1954, DP won the elections overwhelmingly against its opponents. Although DP lost some votes in 1957, they have succeeded in getting hold of the power over Turkey. However, the idea of losing power from that date began to predominate among party members and an executive group not tolerating opposition has emerged in the party. Especially political parties, universities, the press and activities of some associations were restricted and their radius of action was limited by some constitutions such as Investigation Commission. Reactions against this pressure have not delayed; and the protests started at universities have taken the form of a full-scale rebellion by spreading into the country and even army in a short time. After this point, the Army was involved in politics and they have given ultimatums to the ruling party by memorandums in a way not seen before. The idea of seizing control of the country has emerged when the Army couldn’t achieve what they wanted. However, although this idea was not accepted by all members of the Army starting from top-to-bottom, it was developed as a junta among Colonels. During the DP period, the country has achieved a serious transformation process and especially country's foreign policy and economic practices have increased the respectability of Turkey. However, 10-year rule has been weakened the party as well as opposition parties. The ruling party has punished those who haven’t vote for them and caused separations between people by using some concepts such as “Homeland Front”. In addition, they did not hesitate to use religion as a tool for their own interests. Thus, the Army has warned the ruling party with a memo by taking a stance over politics Askeri Vesayet Sisteminin İlk Halkası: 27 Mayıs Süreci ve Sonrası 513 Turkish Studies International Periodical For the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 10/1 Winter 2015 and political parties; then, overthrew the ruling party and paved the way for a new non-democratic era. After the coup, the General Cemal Gursel was convinced and put in charge of the movement and he has taken the tasks of being the President of National Unity Committee (NUC) in addition to the be President, Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Commander-in Chief. Meanwhile, preparations for a new constitution were started through the Constituent Assembly and the new constitution was adopted on July 9th 1961. On the other hand, the Supreme Court of Justice established in Yassiada has conducted the hearing of DP members and sentenced 15 people to death penalty. Although some influent people such as Ismet Inonu attempted to stop executions, NUC approved the execution of 3 party members; the Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, Foreign Minister Fatin Rustu Zorlu and Finance Minister Hasan Polatkan. Shortly after the executions, elections took place as promised; however, the DP’s heirs got higher votes than expected. Therefore, new coup attempts emerged. However, these attempts were not successful and Turkey has entered into an unusual period with coalition governments. However, since the ideologies of left and right are quite dominant in Turkey, it has been understood that the logic of coalition couldn’t work in the country. The Army has left two major legacies (military and political) over Turkish political history along with May 27th. While the legacy of military could be summarized as tradition of coup and establishment of political tutelage over politics, political legacy has made itself felt in the post-coup constitutions prepared. The army has considered itself as charged with the patronage of politicians with a constitutional basis. It is possible to see this consideration in the relationship between the army and politics in the later period. Although the military coup in Turkey was interpreted as a return to the traditional governance style from unreal democracy and parliamentarism that took place in an important part of Middle Eastern countries for many years, on the other hand, it led people to consider Army as the new middle class and only organized power that can reactivate the communities, ensure the development of countries and put up a fight against corrupt governments of the Middle Eastern countries. In addition, it has been emphasized that any change occurring in the position of the Army in the social and political structure may result in reverberations throughout the whole community. It has been also believed that Turkish military officers have a duty of planning political actions and this image profoundly affected political attitudes of these soldiers. On the other hand, the emergence of Turkish political elites and their fight against all segments of society including the Army is considered as one of the factors accelerated the development of 1960 coup. It should be also noted that constitutional order and parliamentary democracy established after the coup are used as settlement agents. 514 Tekin ÖNAL Turkish Studies International Periodical For the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 10/1 Winter 2015 As a result, the actions Of Democratic Party caused rise to discontent in a major part of the country and these actions appeared to be the basis of the coup staged by the Army; therefore, a certain part of the community thought that the military coup took place for right and legitimate reasons. However, the unfair trials and executions led some people to believe that people who were responsible for these victimizations will be brought to justice.