Жемал Гүрсел: Түркия Президенті (1960-1966)

President of Turkey from 1960 to 1966

Cemal Gürsel (; 9 June 1894 – 14 September 1966) was a Turkish military officer and politician who was the 4th president of Turkey, serving from 1960 to 1966 after taking power in a coup d'état.

Gürsel was born in the city of Erzurum as the son of an Ottoman Army officer, Abidin Bey, and the grandson of Ibrahim (1821–1895) and the great grandson of Haci Ahmad (1788–1860). After the elementary school in Ordu and the military middle school in Erzincan, he graduated from the Kuleli military high school in Istanbul. He was a popular figure and was therefore nicknamed "Cemal Ağa" (big brother Cemal) since his childhood school years and onwards all his life. Gürsel served in the Army for 45 years. During World War I, he participated in the Battle of Çanakkale in Dardanelles, Gallipoli as a lieutenant with the First Battery of the 12th Artillery Regiment in 1915 and received the War Medal. He later fought at the Palestine and Syria fronts in 1917 and became a prisoner of war by the British while suffering malaria during his command of the 5th Battery of the 41st Regiment on 19 September 1918. Gürsel was kept as a prisoner of war in Egypt until 6 October 1920. During his presidency much later, when interviewed by the foreign press as to why he had not learned English during his captivity, he somewhat regretfully recalled that he was so frustrated to be a captive, he protested and studied French in the British camp instead. After his release, Cemal Gürsel returned to Anatolia to re join Mustafa Kemal subsequent to Erzurum Congress and took part in all the western front campaigns in the Turkish War of Independence between 1920 and 1923. He was promoted for gallantry in the First Division excelling in the battles of Second Inönü, Eskişehir and Sakarya, and was later awarded the Medal of Independence by the first Parliament for his combat service in the Final Offensive. Gürsel was married, in 1927, to Melahat, the daughter of the chief engineer on the Ottoman cruiser Hamidiye. From this marriage, a son Özdemir was born. The couple adopted two daughters named Hatice and Türkan.

Among all of his achievements and great modesty in his down to earth plain demeanor, he tried to place the most emphasis on the need for a well educated youth and a hard working population with high standards of ethics for a westernized democratic progress in Atatürk's tradition (commentary by Imran Oktem, Chief Supreme Court Justice – Yargitay, 1966). His portrait as a statesman and soldier remained next to Atatürk's in most homes in Turkey for a long time. Erzurum Cemal Gürsel Stadium, some schools and streets were named after him. The developments during his term were described as the "Turkish Revolution" which was celebrated annually on 27 May as the Constitution Day until 1981. In 2002, a commemorative coin was released for the same. In 2008, the movie The Cars of Revolution was released in his memory.

"I took over the administration of the state to stop the tragic course of events." (Cemal Gürsel, radio address on the evening of 27 May 1960)
"The network was ready. I personally did not want the army to intervene and had been stopping the attempts (of takeover) of my younger friends. Things reached to such a state that despite my belief that the army should not interfere I let them free in their duties. Now my only goal is to reinstate an administration built on the principles of justice and ethics." (Cemal Gürsel, An interview. Cumhuriyet, 16 July 1960)
"Those who follow Atatürk will not be left behind." (Cemal Gürsel, from the address on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Atatürk's death, 10 November 1963)

"General Gursel may be described as the father of the second Turkish Republic similar to Atatürk being the father of modern Turkey. At a time of deep division, Gursel earned and maintained the respect of the Turkish Nation that regarded him as the symbol of national unity. When he passed away, he had the identity of the trusted father of the nation." (Prof. Bernard Lewis, 15 September 1966)
"A few days before the coup, it was known that the coup was imminent but General Cemal Gursel was dismissed as a non political general. No leading role by General Cemal Gursel was determined despite the foreknowledge of the plot." (The CIA; The Inside Story by Andrew Tully, pages 51, 53. Crest books, 1962)
"On 27 May, he (Cemal Gursel) was hurriedly requested to come (from his residence in İzmir) to the capital (Ankara) to assume the leadership of National Unity Committee." (The Turkish Revolution, Aspects of Military politics. By Walter Weiker. pages 121, 122. The Brookings Institution, 1963)
"When 27 May revolt occurred, Cemal Gürsel was not a participant. He was invited to become the head due to the circumstances and he willingly accepted." (Burhan Felek, Milliyet, Page 2, 18 September 1971)
"General Gürsel was brought into the NUC chairmanship by the revolution team when he was in retirement preparation. In actuality he was in the position of a chairman found in last minute with a hurried search. He never was the responsible leader for a true leader is not to be appointed but is self appointed." (By a leading member of the NUC)
"One of the core players of the coup, Orhan Erkanli told that they revolted on 27 May without knowing what to do on 28 May. No one, including Cemal Gürsel knew who and how many would be forming the NUC. In actuality, even Cemal Gürsel was brought in later." (Years of Ismet Pasha of our Democracy, 1960–61 by Metin Toker, page 25. Bilgi. 1998)
"It is now known that the coup was the result of years of planning on the part of conspirators, a number of radical colonels and ranks below in their early forties. He (Cemal Gürsel) was not involved in the details of the organization of the coup d'état. When the coup had succeeded, he was brought to Ankara." (Turkey, A modern History by Erik Zurcher. pages 253,254. I. B. Tauris, 2003)
"We just see that a few very important lines in his letter (to the Minister of Defence) had been censored. That means we are going without learning the true history, without knowing who knows what facts and what true pictures of turning points." (Çetin Altan, Author, Journalist, September 2006)
"An extremely important document that sheds light on the past has been revealed. Testimony from eyewitnesses at the time helped make known that the letter had been modified after 27 May, but the location of the original letter was unknown. This important document adds a new dimension to the 27 May revolution. We have come face to face with a new document that changes our written history. It was my greatest wish to obtain just such a document; not for my own satisfaction, but for my father, to prove this reality and obtain genuine evidence. I was thrilled when I heard about this." (Mr Aydın Menderes, Author, the Son of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, September 2006)
"They cut off our phone lines. Adnan Menderes was hung against the regulations. I was supposed to oversee the execution. The revolution tribunal's chief prosecutor Altay Egesel conducted the execution despite not being authorized. İsmet İnönü and Cemal Gürsel were already phoning for him (Adnan Menderes) not to be executed but the telecommunications' office cut off the lines and Egesel made use of the (communication) gap to conduct the execution." (Mehmet Feyyat, District Attorney General, Istanbul Province Prosecutor General 1961, The Administrator of the Imrali Prison, The Lawyer of the Year, Senator. (Reported by Özkan GÜVEN, STAR Newspaper, 13 November 2006 with a summary in Turkish at Law in the Capitol)
"Where are we now and where are the nations such as Portugal, Greece and Spain with whom we departed for the competition of development in 1960s? While we still crawl around $5000 per capita income, they have caught $20K pci a long while ago. In one word, an embarrassment." (Hasan Cemal, Milliyet, October 2006)
"We built an automobile with the mentality of the West and we forgot to put gasoline in it with the mentality of the East." (Cemal Gürsel, President, on the Anniversary of the Turkish Republic, 29 October 1963)