1950-1960 1971-1980







Turkey 1960-1971


Administration . In a 1960 military coup, the cabinet of PM Adnan Menderes (DP) was ousted. The office of PM was held by Cemal Gürsel (military) 1960-1961, Emin Fahrettin Özdilek (military) 1961, Ismet Inönü (CHP) 1961-1965, Suat Hayri ürgüplü (A) 1965, Süleyman Demirel (AP) 1965-1971. General Elections were held in 1961, 1965 and 1969.

Foreign Policy . Turkey remained a loyal member of NATO.
In 1960 Britain released Cyprus into independence, with a constitution securing rights for the island's Turkish minority. The United Kingdom, Greece and Turkey were guarantors of the constitution; Enosis (unification with Greece, as demanded by certain political groups among the Greek Cypriots, not an option. Atrocities committed against Cypriot Turks in 1963 raised tension between Greece and Turkey. Relations with Greece deteriorated further, when a military junta took power in Greece in 1967. In 1965 Turkey began with a program of establishing water resources by damming the headwaters of Euphrates and Tigris, a scheme which affected both Syria and Iraq.
In 1964 Turkey gained the status of an associated member of the EEC. Also in 1964, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan established RCD (Regional Coperation for Development).

The Economy . Turkey produced 8.5 million metric tons of wheat in 1960, 13.5 million metric tons in 1971 (IHS p.203).
Consumer prices about doubled in the period from 1960 to 1971 (IHS pp.959, 960), reflecting moderate inflation.
The development of artificial lakes on the headwaters of Euphrates and Tigris since 1965 by Turkey threatened Syria and Iraq, whose irrigation agriculture depends on these rivers.
In 1960 Turkey produced 0.375 million metric tons of crude petroleum, production peaked in 1969 with 3.6 million and the figure for 1971 was 3.45 million (IHS p.363), about 1.5 % of the production of Saudi Arabia.

Social History . The census of 1960 counted 27.7 million Turks, the census of 1965 31.3 million, the census of 1970 35.6 million.
The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 drastically reduced the influx of East Germans into the Federal Republic of Germany, the booming industry of which required workers. From 1961 to 1975 FRG industries actively recruited Turkish migrant workers, largely for unskilled factory jobs.

Cultural History . Turkish athletes participated in the Summer Olympics of Rome 1960, Tokyo 1964 and Mexico City 1968. In Rome 1960 Turkish athletes took a record 7 gold medals, all of them in wrestling.
Television broadcasting began in Turkey in 1967.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Articles Politics of Turkey, 1960 Turkish Coup d'Etat, Cemal Gürsel, List of Prime Ministers of Turkey, Süleyman Demirel, Economy of Turkey, Accession of Turkey to the EU, Elections in Turkey, Foreign Relations of Turkey, Turkey at the 1960 SummerOlympics, Turkey at the 1964 SummerOlympics, Turkey at the 1968 SummerOlympics, Greco-Turkish Relations, from Wikipedia
Timeline, from BBC News
Water for Sustainable Development in the Euphrates-Tigris Basin, by A. Kibaroglu
Turkey : The Party System in 1950-1956 and 1957-1962, in : Kenneth Janda, Political Parties : A Cross-National Survey
DOCUMENTS World Statesmen : Turkey, by Ben Cahoon
Historical Population Statistics : Turkey, from Population Statistics at Univ. Utrecht
REFERENCE IHS : International Historical Statistics : Africa, Asia & Oceania 1750-2000, edited by B.R. Mitchell, Basingstoke : Palgrave MacMillan 4th ed. 2003
Chapter 12 : Along the Mediterranean, pp.160-177, in : John Gunter, Inside Europe Today, NY : Harper & Bros. 1961 [G]
Article Turkey, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1960 pp.693-694, 1961 pp.691-693, 1962 pp.686-687, 1963 pp.801-802, 1964 pp.826-827, 1965 pp.829-830, 1966 pp.778-779, 1967 pp.766-767, 1968 pp.773-774, 1969 pp.760-761, 1970 pp.761-762, 1971 pp.743-744 [G]
Article : Turkey, in : Americana Annual 1961 pp.768-770, 1962 pp.775-777, 1963 pp.687-689, 1964 pp.670-671, 1965 pp.700-701, 1967 pp.693-695, 1968 pp.687-689, 1969 pp.694-696, 1970 pp.696-697, 1971 pp.691-693, [G]
Article : Turkey, in : Funk & Wagnall's New Standard Encyclopedia Year Book 1961 pp.337-338 [G]
Article : Turkey, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1970-1971 pp.1371-1381 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on January 12th 2002, last revised on September 28th 2007

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