Executed PM Menderes Commemorated

Turkey's ninth Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, former Foreign Minister Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and former Finance Minister Hasan Polatkan, who were executed in September 1961 following the May 27 coup, were commemorated at their graves on Wednesday, on the 53rd anniversary of their death.

Speaking at the ceremony, Menderes' daughter-in-law Ümran Menderes said that the late prime minister and the two ministers had no other goal but serving the country. “They were sentenced unlawfully by kangaroo courts,” she continued. According to her, the execution of the three was already planned when they first came to power.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç also spoke at the event, saying that those who staged coups in the past have been tried in the courts. “Today, staging a coup crosses no one's mind,” Arınç said. He also reassured his addressees that no military coups such as the one that happened on May 27, 1960, could occur in Turkey again.

A minute of silence was observed for Menderes, Zorlu and Polatkan, who are dubbed “martyrs of democracy.” Verses from the Quran were read out loud after this. Following the speeches, sympathy wreaths were laid at the graves of the three men and prayers were read.

Menderes served as the prime minister from May 22, 1950 until May 27, 1960, when he was detained by a colonel in Kütahya and taken to Yassıada Prison along with other Democratic Party (DP) officials. While Zorlu and Polatkan were executed on Sept. 16, 1961, Menderes was executed on Sept. 17, after a medical examination was carried out on him, because he tried to commit suicide but failed a day before.

Halil Özcan (Cihan/Today's Zaman)