Introduction

After Demirel was forced to resign in 1971, the military restructured the political arena in order to prevent a recurrence of the political and societal dysfunction of the late 1960s. The junta-backed ‘above-party’ government made wide-ranging changes to the constitution, which repealed much of its liberal character. It was hoped that the amendments would foster political stability by providing greater powers to the executive, as a safeguard against a repeat of the previous period.

During these years Demirel maintained his role as the head of the AP while, on the other side of the political divide, changes were taking place inside the CHP. A young social democrat, Bülent Ecevit, replaced the ageing İsmet İnönü and brought with him hope that there could be a liberalisation within the party. As the leaders of the two most dominant parties of the era, Demirel and Ecevit alternated six times as Prime Minister between 1974 and 1980. This was a significant indicator of the electoral popularity of both men and the competitiveness of the party system. In this sense, it was a break from the single-party governments that Turkey had largely experienced up to this point. Nonetheless, constitutional restructuring and changes in the political landscape did not resolve government paralysis and political violence, which accelerated between 1976 and 1980 and saw more than 5,000 people lose their lives. The generals determined that the situation had totally escaped the control of the leaders and undertook another military intervention on 12 September 1980.

This chapter will demonstrate that the political developments of the period were largely in response to both Ecevit and Demirel's leadership and a critical reason for understanding the democratic failure of this period. Although the military maintained its tutelary position, it could not exert substantive influence over civilian politics and determine political outcomes: if it had, civilian rule might not have slowly resulted in the ‘complete erosion of governmental authority’ between 1973 and 1980 (Tachua and Heper 1983, 25).