Kenan Evren
Kenan Evren, born
17 July 1917 in
Alaşehir,
Manisa, was a
Turkish general, the leader of the
coup d'etat on
12 September 1980 and the 7th
president of Turkey. He was Counter-Guerrilla's commander,
Gladio's Turkish branch of NATO's "stay-behind" secret armies [
1].
After going to elementary school and middle school in Manisa,
Balıkesir and
İstanbul, he attended military high school in Maltepe,
Ankara. In
1938, he graduated from army school and in
1949 from
military academy as a staff officer. He participated in the
Korean War. In 1958 and 1959 he served in Korea. In
1964 he was made
general. Evren served at various posts like as Chief army. He became Chief joint staff in
1978.
He led the
September 12 1980 military coup in Turkey against the elected civilian government. With the coup, the
National Security Council (MGK), which was composed of Kenan Evren, the Chief of the general staff, and the force commanders, dissolved the parliament and the government. According to a widely believed story in Turkey, he and his team of force commanders were named "our boys" in the
CIA headquarters after the coup.
After the coup, in
1982, he became
President of Turkey on
November 7 with the approval of the new constitution that was submitted to a public referendum. He is considered to have ruled the country with an iron fist until
November 9,
1989. He seemed to have great admiration for the founder of Turkey,
Kemal Atatürk, but he shut down some institutions founded by Atatürk and is often accused of deforming the country's legal system against Atatürk's principles. During his military regime, some people were executed because of their political beliefs, including a 16 year old boy named
Erdal Eren. Laws did not allow execution of underage children. Therefore his age was changed from 16 to 18 by court order for the execution. Kenan Evren is remembered for his comment on these executions:
"Asmayalım da besleyelim mi?" (Shall we feed them rather than hanging them?)
His reputation as a both military man and a political leader has suffered due to the many
gaffes he made. However, some believe that he did a great service to the Turkish republic and without the coup he led in 1980 the clash of militant factions in Turkey would have caused more damage.
After his retirement, he moved to the Turkish Mediterranean resort town of
Marmaris and took up painting.
On
2 August 2006, a reported plan for assassinating Evren was thwarted when two men were apprehended and arrested in
Muğla [
2]. A previous attempt in
1996 could be tracked down when two members of the assassination team spoke on a cellphone eavesdropped by the police, and
adhan could be heard during their conversation. Since the timing of the adhan was came 4-5 minutes after
İstanbul, a point slightly more to the west by that time margin was sought and the team members were caught in
Marmaris self. [
3]
*
Presentation of Evren on the website of the Presidency of the Turkish Republic*
Operation Gladio
