Sadi Koçaş (1919–1998) was a Turkish military officer and politician. He was among the military figures who planned a military coup against the rule of the Democrat Party on 27 May 1960. Retired from the army in 1961 he became a member of the Republican People's Party. He briefly served as the deputy prime minister in the cabinet led by Nihat Erim immediately after another military coup in 1971.
Sadi Koçaş | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Mehmet Sadi |
| Born | 1919 Karaman, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 12 January 1998 (aged 78–79) Istanbul, Turkey |
| Buried | Zincirlikuyu cemetery, Istanbul |
| Allegiance |  Turkey |
| Service | Turkish Land Forces |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Alma mater | Turkish Military Academy |
| Children | 2 |
| Other work | Deputy Prime Minister (1971) |
Early life and education
editHe was born in Karaman, Ottoman Empire, in 1919.[1] His family later settled in Istanbul.[2] He graduated from the Turkish Military Academy as an artillery officer in 1940.[1] He continued his education and became a staff officer in 1950.[1] Then he was educated at the School of Land/Air Warfare in the United Kingdom between 1952 and 1953.[3]
Career and activities
editFollowing his graduation Koçaş worked in the Turkish Army and in the Ministry of Defense.[1] He was a military attaché in Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania, between 1954 and 1956.[3] He was first involved in the secret activities in November 1954 to carry out a military coup against the government led by Prime Minister Adnan Menderes.[4] During this period Koçaş was a major.[4] In 1957 he formed another secret group of the military officers in Ankara against the government.[5] In February 1959 he managed to get support from Cemal Gürsel, commander of land forces, to implement the planned coup.[5] Shortly after these activities Koçaş was sent to London as a military attaché which he held until 1961.[3] He retired from the army with the rank of colonel in 1961.[3]
Cemal Gürsel, leader of the 1960 military coup and President of Turkey, appointed Koçaş as a senator in 1962.[6] He served at the Senate until his resignation in 1969.[1] Then he joined the Republican People's Party and was elected as a deputy from Konya.[3] On 26 March 1971 he was appointed deputy prime minister to the cabinet led by Prime Minister Nihat Erim which had been formed shortly after the Turkish military memorandum on 12 March.[3][7] Koçaş's ministerial portfolio included political and administrative affairs.[7][8] Koçaş and eleven other cabinet members resigned from their posts on 3 December 1971.[3] Following this incident he retired from politics.[1]
Personal life and death
editKoçaş was married and had two daughters.[1] He died in Istanbul on 12 January 1998 and was buried in the Zincirlikuyu cemetery next day.[9]
Work
editKoçaş is the author of several non-fiction books.[1] Two of his books were his memoirs which were published in 1977 and 1978.[10] In these books Koçaş reports the existence of an extremely secret service within the state apparatus which was allegedly led by Fuat Doğu, the undersecretary of Turkish National Intelligence Agency.[10] This claim was also shared by Prime Minister Nihat Erim, and they managed to remove Fuat Doğu from office.[10]
Koçaş also published a book on the history of Armenians and the relations between Armenians and Turks in 1990.[11]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h "M. Sadi Koçaş" (in Turkish). Biyografya. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
- ^ Doğan Gürpınar (2016). "The manufacturing of denial: the making of the Turkish 'official thesis' on the Armenian Genocide between 1974 and 1990". Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies. 18 (3): 220. doi:10.1080/19448953.2016.1176397. S2CID 148518678.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Sadi Koçaş öldü". Milliyet (in Turkish). 13 January 1998. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
- ^ a b Ömer Eryılmaz (March 2014). Turkey in the Triangle of the 1950-1960 Era, the 1960 Military Coup, and the 1961 Constitution (MA thesis). Naval Postgraduate School. p. 53.
- ^ a b William Hale (2011). "The Turkish Republic and its Army, 1923–1960". Turkish Studies. 12 (2): 198. doi:10.1080/14683849.2011.572628. S2CID 145425936.
- ^ Berk Esen (2021). "Praetorian Army in Action: A Critical Assessment of Civil–Military Relations in Turkey". Armed Forces & Society. 47 (1): 218. doi:10.1177/0095327X20931548. S2CID 225664519.
- ^ a b "Chronology February 16, 1971-May 15, 1971". The Middle East Journal. 25 (3): 386. Summer 1971. JSTOR 4324780.
- ^ Barış Adıbelli (2022). "The Establishment of Diplomatic Relations Between the Republic of Turkey and the People's Republic of China (1960-1971)". BRIQ. 3 (1): 67.
- ^ "Sadi Koçaş toprağa verildi". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 13 January 1998. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
- ^ a b c İlker Aytürk (2017). "The Flagship Institution of Cold War Turcology". European Journal of Turkish Studies (24). doi:10.4000/ejts.5517.
- ^ M. Sadi Koçaş (1990). Tarihte Ermeniler ve Türk-Ermeni ilişkileri (in Turkish). Istanbul: Kastaş Yayınları. ISBN 978-975-7639-32-9.