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by pinars 4764 days ago
In most of the world, revolutions come bottom up. In Turkey, they came top down. It was the military that toppled the "sultan" and established the parliamentary system / Turkish Republic. And later it was a former general who set up the multi-party system (and didn't get elected).

I know it sounds off, but what the Founding Fathers did for the US, the generals did for Turkey. Not a very healthy one I agree, but at least they established whatever form of democracy Turkey has today.
2 comments
_b8r0 4764 days ago
> It was the military that toppled the "sultan" and established the parliamentary system / Turkish Republic

The Young Turk Revolution, while supported by one army corp didn't topple the Sultan. The Sultan (Mehmed VI) was deposed by the Grand National Assembly of the Turkish Republic, a political body.

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shn 4762 days ago
Turkey was ruled by one party until 1946 like the ones in Soviet Union. After 4-5 years of the multi party election of the first prime minister that "honest" and "non-corrupt government" hung the prime minister after the coup. The last soft coup in 1998 costed Turkey by one estimation $300Bn. Wanna talk corruption, talk the military and all the state investments...
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