Kenan Evren

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Kenan Evren
7th President of the Republic of Turkey
In office 12 September 1980 – 9 November 1989
Preceded by	Fahri Korutürk
Succeeded by	Turgut Özal
Born	July 17, 1917 (1917-07-17) (age 92) Alaşehir, Manisa
Nationality	Turkish
Spouse	Sakine Evren

Ahmet Kenan Evren (born 17 July 1917) was the seventh president of Turkey; a post he assumed by leading the 1980 military coup.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Military coup 3 Post-presidency 4 References

[edit] Biography

Kenan Evren was born in Alaşehir, Manisa.^[1] After going to elementary school and middle school in Manisa, Balıkesir and Istanbul, 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.^[1] From 1958 to 1959, he served in the Turkish Brigade in Korea. In 1964 he was made general. Evren served at various posts as Army Chief. He was the commander of Operation Gladio's Turkish branch; the Counter-Guerrilla. The Counter-Guerrilla was an anti-communist "stay-behind" guerrilla force set up with the support of NATO.^[2] He became Chief of General Staff in March 1978.^[1]

[edit] Military coup

The years leading to the coup were characterized as a fierce struggle between the rightists and leftists. Hoping to see a communist revolution, the left wingers rioted in the streets; on the other hand, the nationalist rightists fought back the left wingers and provoked religious arousal. Universities had taken sides and each became headquarters for either the leftists or rightists. The political leaders Suleyman Demirel and Bülent Ecevit were incapable of controlling the violence.

With the coup came the National Security Council as the ruling body. The council of 1980 was composed of the commanders Kenan Evren, the Chief of Staff and President of the State. The parliament was dissolved. The Central Intelligence Agency's Ankara bureau chief at the time, Paul B. Henze, received a call from the White House Situation Room saying "Paul, your guys have done it", while President Jimmy Carter was watching Fiddler on the Roof at the Kennedy Center.^[3][4]

After the coup, in 1982, Kenan Evren was elected the President of Republic of Turkey on November 7 with the 90% approval of the new constitution that was submitted to a referendum, replacing the older constitution which, according to him, had liberties "luxurious" for Turkey.^[5] He suspended many forms of civil liberties and human rights on the grounds that it was necessary to establish stability. He professed great admiration for the founder of Turkey, Kemal Atatürk, however he shut down many institutions founded by Atatürk and is often accused of deforming the country's legal system against Atatürk's principles. During his military regime, many people were tortured and executed due to their political beliefs.

Evren took strong measures to ensure that the division between the political left and right would not turn into violence again; the new constitution limited the rights and depoliticized the youth.

According to a report on the Susurluk scandal of 1996, prepared by Prime Ministry Inspection Board Deputy Chairman Kutlu Savaş, quoted by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, "Fascists had been released from prison in return for 'finishing some jobs' under Evren's rule after 12 September 1980".^[6]

Responding to a journalist's question regarding the execution of 17-year-old Erdal Eren, he memorably responded "Should we feed him rather than hang him?"^[7]

[edit] Post-presidency

After his retirement, he moved to the Turkish Mediterranean resort town of Armutalan, Marmaris and took up painting.^[8] On 2 August 2006, a reported plan for assassinating Evren was thwarted when two men were apprehended and arrested in Muğla.^[9] A previous attempt in 1996 had already been tracked down when two members of the assassination team spoke on a cellphone eavesdropped by the police, and the Islamic call to prayer (adhan) could be heard during their conversation. Since the timing of the adhan was 4–5 minutes after Istanbul, a point slightly more to the west by that time margin was sought and the team members were caught in Marmaris itself.^[10]

In 2004, he revealed that his daughter, Şenay Gürvit, and son-in-law, Erkan Gürvit, are members of the National Intelligence Organization. His daughter presided over the reprisal operations against the militant Armenian organization, ASALA.^[11]

After Bülent Ecevit's death, he expressed remorse over the arrest of political leaders after the September 12 coup,^[8] but defended the coup itself and the 35 executions.^[12] Civilian resentment exists, and there have been demands for his being called to account, following the Ergenekon investigation.^[13][14]

[edit] References

Military offices
Preceded by Semih Sancar	Chief of the General Staff of Turkey 7 Mar 1978–1 Jul 1983	Succeeded by Nurettin Ersin
Political offices
Preceded by Fahri Korutürk	President of Turkey 12 Sept 1980–9 Nov 1989	Succeeded by Turgut Özal

v • d • e Presidents of the Republic of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk · İsmet İnönü · Celal Bayar · Cemal Gürsel · Cevdet Sunay · Fahri Korutürk · Kenan Evren · Turgut Özal · Süleyman Demirel · Ahmet Necdet Sezer · Abdullah Gül

v • d • e Chiefs of the General Staff of Turkey İnönü · Çakmak · Orbay · Omurtak · Gürman · Yamut · Baransel · Tunaboylu · Mengüç · Erdelhun · Gümüşpala · Sunay · Tural · Tağmaç · Gürler · Sancar · Evren · Ersin · Üruğ · Torumtay · Güreş · Karadayı · Kıvrıkoğlu · Özkök · Büyükanıt · Başbuğ