Adnan Menderes

Adnan Menderes   (politician)
Born	1899 Koçarlı, Aydın Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died	17 September 1961 (Age 61) İmralı, Turkey
Nationality	Turkish
Alma mater	Ankara University/Law School
Children	• Yüksel • Mutlu • Aydın
Spouse	Berin Menderes
Victim of	execution
Party	Liberal Republican Party, Republican People's Party, (CHP), Democrat Party, (DP)
Turkish PM for 10 years. In this role he attended 2 Bilderbergs in the 1950s. After trying to balance the United States against the Soviet Union by successfully getting a Soviet loan, he was toppled in the CIA-supported 1960 coup d'état, after which he he was executed.  Prime Minister of Turkey  In office 22 May 1950 - 27 May 1960 Deputy Fatin Rüştü Zorlu Attended two Bilderbergs

Ali Adnan Menderes was a Turkish politician who was Prime Minister of Turkey between 1950 and 1960. He was one of the founders of the Democrat Party (DP) in 1946, the fourth legal opposition party of Turkey. After trying to balance the United States against the Soviet Union by successfully getting a Soviet loan, he was toppled in the CIA-supported 1960 coup d'état. He was then tried and executed along with two other cabinet members, Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Hasan Polatkan.

Prime Minister

In the elections held on May 14, 1950, the DP received 52.7% of the vote and the CHP received 39.4%. During Adnan Menderes' 10-year term as prime minister, there have been major changes in Turkish domestic and foreign policy.

On June 6, 1950, the newly formed DP government sent 15 generals and 150 colonels, including the entire top command level, especially Chief of General Staff Nafiz Gürman, to retirement on the grounds that they were planning a military coup.

In 1951, the Menderes government decided that Turkey should join the US in the Korean War with the Turkish Brigade, signing a decision that was much discussed by the CHP. This was actually a political maneuver by Turkey to show that it was taking part on the side of the Western Bloc in the Cold War. As a result, Turkey was admitted as a full member of NATO in 1952. In the same year, at the request of NATO, the Mobilization Inspection Board, later called the Special Warfare Department, was established to conduct an informal war against communism.

In 1953, the assets acquired by the CHP during the one-party rule were confiscated and transferred to the treasury.

In the years 1950-1954, Turkey entered the period of development in the economy. During this period, the transition to a free market economy was accelerated. Foreigners were given permission to explore and extract oil. With the contribution of the Marshall Plan, new industrial facilities were established in the country. VakıfBank of Turkey was established in 1954. During this period, Turkey's gross national product grew by an average of 9% per year. In 1955, a bust had started in the economy. The external debts were increasing gradually, the balance of payment was deteriorating, the foreign exchange inflow was not sufficient. This situation began to cause various troubles in the country.

With the help of the American Ford Foundation, he founded the Middle East Technical University in Ankara and the Karadeniz Technical University in Trabzon.

Soviet loan

Menderes, who made a trip to the United States in 1959 and asked for additional financial resources, was reminded that the Marshall Aid funds were about to run out and his requests were rejected. Menderes, who wanted to lay the foundations of facilities such as Iskenderun Iron and Steel Works, Seydisehir Aluminum, Keban Dam and Istanbul Bosphorus Bridge before the 1961 elections, sent his close friend and minister Dr. Lutfi Kirdar to the Soviet Union to see what was possible. After the Soviet Union took a positive approach to the issue, Menderes also went to Moscow in July 1960 and decided to sign loan agreements there.

Trial and execution

On May 27, 1960, at 4 o'clock in the morning, Staff Colonel Alparslan Türkeş stated on the radio that they had seized the administration, and announced the reasons for the military coup to the public with a radio statement. Menderes was detained. He was tried for embezzlement, and on February 2, 1961, it was decided that he was guilty. While the case was being discussed, the defense side claimed that the American secret service by financing the Turkish intelligence service dominated the organization enough to wiretap Menderes' phones. Menderes and the Undersecretary of the Prime Ministry Ahmet Salih Korur claimed that the culprit was Behçet Türkmen, the undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization at that time.

The Supreme Court of Justice, the court specially established by the junta that carried out the May 27 coup, decided to execute 14 people and sentence 31 people to life imprisonment, with some of the sentences later commuted.

Adnan Menderes, who was verbally and physically abused by some soldiers on duty during his detention, was executed on 17 September 1961.

Family

Menderes married Berin Menderes in 1929 and had three children from this marriage. His eldest son Yüksel Menderes, after serving in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, entered politics and was elected deputy. On March 8, 1972, he ended his life by suicide^  at his home in Ankara. Mutlu Menderes, the middle son, was elected as a deputy from the Democratic Party for one term and from the EP for one term. On March 1, 1978, he lost his life in a traffic accident in Ankara. His younger son Aydın Menderes was also interested in politics for many years. Aydın Menderes spent the last 15 years of his life as a paraplegic as a result of a traffic accident in 1996 before dying in 2011.

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/1957 February	15 February 1957	17 February 1957	US St Simons Island Georgia (State)	The earliest ever Bilderberg in the year, number 5, was also first one outside Europe.
Bilderberg/1959	18 September 1959	20 September 1959	Turkey Yesilkoy	The 8th Bilderberg and the first in Turkey. 60 guests.

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References

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