Review: A Coup in Turkey, Jeremy Seal 

By Luke Frostick

On the 17 September 1961 the first democratically elected prime minister of Turkey Adnan Menderes was hanged by a military junta. It is one of the most important moments in Turkish history, one that would have lasting consequences for the direction the republic would take going forward. In his new book, A coup in Turkey, Jeremy Seal recounts the history of Menderes’ rise and fall and contrasts it with events in contemporary Turkish politics. 

Seal starts his account with the story of the Baileys, the pair of English farmers who gave shelter to Prime Minster Menderes following his miraculous survival of a plane crash. The Baileys were quickly elevated to the status of heroes within Turkey for taking care of their leader in his time of need and they were inundated with gifts from grateful citizens and were invited to a whirlwind state visit to Turkey. Seal also starts his story there with a visit to Margaret Bailey to get her perspective on their odd encounter with one of the most important figures in the republic’s history.

From there the book follows two tracks: A history of the life of Menderes and Seal’s own reporting as he visits places of significance to the Menderes story and people who were involved in it. Some of the places and people are present to move the narrative of the book along. However, they provide valuable background, context, and alternate perspectives. He is also able to get some really interesting accounts from people very directly involved with the events of the time. In particular, I found the account of Mehmet Tasdelen, one of Menderes’ prison guards who took illicit photographs of the prison and those incarcerated there, absolutely fascinating. He was also the one who saved Menderes’ life after he tried to take a fatal dose of tranquillisers. 

The overall history is really well done. Seal concisely and clearly lays out the details of  Menderes’ life and career—the good he attempted to do by building a society that more closely reflected the beliefs and attitudes of the citizens, and the negative side of his regime: The damage to the economy, the increasing authoritarianism directed against critics, and his role in the 1955 pogrom. The book also gives a good look into the movement that would lead the coup, the farcical events of the trial, and the shady circumstances surrounding the eventual execution. 

The travel and reportage sections of the book often seem to be interwoven for readers who are not overly familiar with Turkey. However, there is plenty of material in these sections about recent Turkish history and politics that is interesting and his reportage on Menderes is excellent. The reason that Seal has chosen to write about the present is the stark similarities between the era of the Democrat Party and that of the AKP. He lays out how the reign of Menderes and his fall inform a lot of the thinking that informs the AKP. 

The first is the way that the two leaders use faith. Although there is a question about exactly how sincere Menderes was in his commitment to religion, particularly considering aspects of his personal life, he, like Erdogan, recognised that expressions of faith that were unpopular with the intellectual elites of the Republican Party could produce advantages at the ballot box. 

The other extremely striking comparison is their understanding of the nature of democracy. Both leaders have a sense that democratic legitimacy is only gained through the votes and that the mandate given to them by the people gives them the right to enact policy without the interference of checks and balances and to the detriment of their political opposition. It is no coincidence that Erdogan uses the term milli irade, or national will, to describe this approach to politics. They share the understanding that the army, the academy, and the media represent the greatest threats to their administrations. Though, one would have to say that Erdogan has learned the lessons of his predecessor and has been far more effective in enacting this kind of politics. 

Seal argues, as the book draws to a close, that although Menderes’ reign was undoubtedly one that failed to live up to his promises of a more democratic Turkey, the coup was ultimately more deleterious to Turkish democracy and would establish the pattern of populist leaders and coups that have so undermined Turkish political life. One thing that stuck with me is that the aftermath of the coup was characterised by petty score-settling in the name of justice, which would just leave a huge number of people feeling wronged and holding those grudges for the next round of politics. If there is a lesson for the future from the Menderes era, it is that someday, the AKP era will be over and those who take power and their supporters are going to want justice. That is not unreasonable. But they will have to be cautious, thoughtful and just in the way that they approach it so that democracy can develop and not just start the cycle of resentment over again.