The September 12, 1980 Military Coup and Its Aftermath

June 1, 1980: Turkey is embroiled in violence that has not ceased since the 1971 memorandum and the 1978-79 martial law periods. Right-wing and left-wing armed groups are clashing in the streets, universities, and workplaces; there are about twenty political murders per day, and martial law is in effect in twenty provinces. Süleyman Demirel's minority government is standing with external support from the MSP and MHP. Parliament is deadlocked against Bülent Ecevit's CHP, President Korutürk's term has ended without a successor elected after dozens of rounds, and Senate President Çağlayangil is acting president. The memorandum sent by the commanders to Demirel and Ecevit on December 27, 1979, has not been forgotten. The January 24 decisions, prepared by Turgut Özal, are being implemented with IMF support: inflation is over one hundred percent, there is a foreign debt crisis, fuel and food shortages, and long queues. Chief of General Staff Kenan Evren and four force commanders (Ersin, Şahinkaya, Tümer, Celasun) maintain a tight chain of command. Alevi-Sunni conflicts are ongoing in Çorum; in Fatsa, independent mayor Fikri Sönmez is conducting a local governance experiment with public committees and has become a target. Revolutionary Path (Devrimci Yol), Dev-Sol, the Idealist Hearths (Ülkü Ocakları), DİSK, labor unions, and MSP circles are active on the ground; the PKK is a small organization in the Southeast, with its leadership operating from abroad. The CHP mayors of Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir (Ali Dinçer, Ahmet İsvan, İhsan Alyanak) are trying to keep their cities standing. The world is in the last decade of the Cold War: the revolution in Iran, the hostage crisis, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the nascent workers' movement in Poland, and tensions building toward the Iran-Iraq War. Turkey is the southeastern flank of NATO, signed a defense agreement with the US in 1980, while Greece remains outside the military wing of NATO and Cyprus is divided. The outside world is watching the developments in Turkey in silence; Washington, Moscow, London, Bonn, Paris, and Brussels are waiting according to their own interests. MAP AND AFFILIATION. The map is drawn with 1980 borders: the Soviet Union stands as a large Warsaw Pact bloc, and East Germany is part of the Germany cell. Affiliation colors represent Cold War blocs; when the Soviet Union collapses in 1991, the Soviet cells move to new affiliations. HISTORICAL FLOW (default path; this is how it proceeds if the player does not intervene) 1980: On the morning of September 12, the military seizes power within the chain of command. Evren, Ersin, Şahinkaya, Tümer, and Celasun form the National Security Council. Parliament and the government are dissolved; Demirel, Ecevit, Erbakan, and Türkeş are detained; labor unions and associations are suspended. Retired Admiral Bülent Ulusu becomes prime minister, and Özal becomes deputy prime minister in charge of the economy. Approximately 650,000 people are detained, with trials, executions, and ongoing torture in the Mamak, Metris, and Diyarbakır prisons. The Iran-Iraq War begins on September 22; Turkey is neutral and trades with both sides. In October, Greece returns to the military wing of NATO. In November, Reagan is elected US president. 1981-82: Reagan takes office in January 1981. Pope John Paul II is assassinated on May 13, 1981, and the trail of Mehmet Ali Ağca leads to Turkey. Political parties are dissolved in October 1981, and the Consultative Assembly is established. A new constitution is accepted via referendum in November 1982, and Evren becomes president. The bankers' crisis and ASALA attacks occur. Brezhnev dies in November 1982 and is succeeded by Andropov. 1983-84: In the November 6, 1983 election, the generals' party, the MDP, finishes third; Turgut Özal's ANAP becomes the leading party, and Özal takes the premiership in December 1983. The TRNC is declared in November. In the March 1984 local elections, ANAP gets mayors like Bedrettin Dalan (Istanbul) and Burhan Özfatura (Izmir) elected. The PKK carries out its first armed attacks on August 15, 1984. Starting in December 1984, Bulgaria forces the Turkish minority to change their names. Andropov dies in February 1984, and Chernenko dies in March 1985. 1985-89: In March 1985, Gorbachev takes over the Soviet Union; glasnost, perestroika, the Reagan-Gorbachev summits, and the 1987 INF Treaty resolve the Cold War. In April 1987, Turkey applies for full membership in the EEC. With the September 1987 referendum, political bans are lifted, and ANAP wins again in November 1987. In 1988, the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan begins, and the Iran-Iraq War ends. In the March 1989 local elections, the SHP wins Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir (Nurettin Sözen, Murat Karayalçın, Yüksel Çakmur). Between May and August 1989, approximately three hundred thousand ethnic Turks arrive in Turkey from Bulgaria. June 4, 1989, Tiananmen; in the autumn, communist regimes collapse in Hungary, Poland, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia, the Berlin Wall falls on November 9, and Ceaușescu is toppled in Romania in December. In November 1989, Özal becomes president, and Yıldırım Akbulut becomes prime minister. 1990-91: In August 1990, Iraq invades Kuwait; Özal aligns with the Gulf coalition, and the Iraqi oil pipeline is closed. Germany reunites in October 1990. The Gulf War occurs in January-February 1991; the Kurdish refugee influx from Northern Iraq and Operation Provide Comfort take place in April. The Warsaw Pact dissolves in 1991, a coup attempt in Moscow fails in August and Yeltsin rises to prominence, the Commonwealth of Independent States is established with the Belavezha Accords on December 8, Gorbachev resigns on December 25, 1991, and the Soviet Union officially dissolves on December 26, 1991. Turkey is among the first countries to recognize Azerbaijan, Central Asian, and Caucasian republics. Former Soviet cells transition to Non-Aligned and Neutral status or new alliances. Yugoslavia begins to fragment. In October 1991, the DYP becomes the leading party, Demirel becomes prime minister, and İnönü becomes deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs (DYP-SHP coalition). 1992-99: The Karabakh war and the Bosnian war (1992-95). Özal dies on April 17, 1993, Demirel becomes president, and Tansu Çiller becomes prime minister. In July 1993, the Sivas massacre occurs, and conflicts with the PKK intensify. In the March 1994 local elections, the RP wins Istanbul (Recep Tayyip Erdoğan) and Ankara (Melih Gökçek). In April 1994, the April 5 economic decisions and the currency crisis take place. In December 1995, the RP becomes the leading party; in June 1996, Erbakan becomes prime minister, and Çiller becomes deputy prime minister (Refahyol). Military pressure mounts with the NSC decisions of February 28, 1997; Erbakan resigns in June 1997, and the RP is closed in 1998. Due to his speech in Siirt in December 1997, Erdoğan remains in prison for four months in 1999. In October 1998, Syria expels Abdullah Öcalan (Adana Agreement), and he is captured in Nairobi in February 1999. April 1999 election: DSP, MHP, and ANAP coalition, Ecevit is prime minister, Bahçeli is deputy prime minister. The Marmara earthquake on August 17, 1999, claims more than seventeen thousand lives. In December 1999, Turkey receives EU candidacy. 2000-2010: In 2000, Ahmet Necdet Sezer becomes president. February 2001 currency crisis: Kemal Derviş's program and banking reform. In the November 3, 2002 election, the AKP comes to power alone; Gül becomes prime minister, and Erdoğan becomes prime minister in March 2003. On March 1, 2003, the Iraq motion is rejected in Parliament. The decision to negotiate with the EU is made in 2004, and negotiations begin in October 2005. 2007: e-memorandum, early election, Gül becomes president. 2008-2010: Ergenekon and Balyoz trials, Mavi Marmara (2010), September 12, 2010 constitutional referendum. 2011-2018: 2011 election AKP peak, Arab Spring, Syrian civil war, and refugee influx. Gezi in May 2013, corruption investigations in December 2013, and the rupture between the AKP and the Gülen community. Settlement Process in March 2013. Erdoğan becomes president by popular vote in August 2014, Davutoğlu becomes prime minister. AKP loses majority in June 2015 election, Suruç and the collapse of the process in July, Ankara train station attack in October, snap election in November. The coup attempt on July 15, 2016, fails; state of emergency. The April 16, 2017 referendum brings the Presidential government system; the system starts with the June 24, 2018 election, and a currency crisis occurs in August 2018. 2019-2024: In March-June 2019, Ekrem İmamoğlu (Istanbul) and Mansur Yavaş (Ankara) win the mayoralties for the CHP. Pandemic in 2020; currency crisis and withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention in 2021; inflation rises to 85 percent in 2022. The Kahramanmaraş earthquakes on February 6, 2023, claim around fifty thousand lives. In May 2023, Erdoğan defeats Kılıçdaroğlu in the second round; Özgür Özel becomes CHP chairman in November. In the March 2024 local elections, the CHP becomes the leading party. In October 2024, the PKK process is reopened with Bahçeli's call. The Assad regime falls in December 2024. 2025-October 1, 2026: In March 2025, İmamoğlu is arrested, leading to mass protests. In February 2025, Öcalan calls for laying down arms; in May 2025, the PKK announces its dissolution; in July, there is an arms-burning ceremony. In September 2025, a trustee is appointed to the CHP Istanbul provincial branch; the IMM case begins with hundreds of defendants. On May 21, 2026, the court declares the CHP congress null and void; Özel and his administration are removed, and Kılıçdaroğlu returns to office; the stock market drops sharply. On August 11, 2026, Parliament accepts the first law of the Terror-Free Turkey process (Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration). In August 2026, annual inflation is 31.5 percent; İmamoğlu continues to be tried in Silivri; the game ends on October 1, 2026. WORLD LEADERS. The main state leaders on the map at the beginning of the game: Carter and Reagan in his election campaign (USA), Brezhnev (USSR), Thatcher (UK), Giscard d'Estaing (France), Schmidt (West Germany), Honecker (East Germany), Cossiga (Italy), Suárez (Spain), Rallis and Papandreou (Greece), Zhivkov (Bulgaria), Ceaușescu (Romania), Gierek (Poland), Mijatović (Yugoslavia), Khomeini (Iran), Saddam Hussein (Iraq), Hafez al-Assad (Syria), Begin (Israel), Sadat (Egypt), King Khalid (Saudi Arabia), Gaddafi (Libya), Zia-ul-Haq (Pakistan), Indira Gandhi (India), Deng Xiaoping (China), Ohira (Japan), Karmal (Afghanistan), Kyprianou and Denktaş in Cyprus, NATO Secretary General Luns and Supreme Allied Commander Europe Rogers, Pope John Paul II. These leaders die, lose elections, are overthrown, or yield their places to a new generation within the historical calendar.