Commemoration ceremony held on 53rd anniversary of Menderes’ execution

ISTANBUL - Anadolu Agency

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A commemoration ceremony was held at the Istanbul mausoleum of the late Prime Minister Adnan Menderes on Sept. 17, the 53rd anniversary of Menderes’ execution along with two ministers.

Menderes, Foreign Minister Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Finance Minister Hasan Polatkan were hanged on Sept. 17, 1961, after the Turkish Republic’s first military coup d’état on May 27, 1960.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Head Süleyman Soylu, Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş and former Istanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu attended the ceremony at Menderes’s mausoleum in the Topkapı district of the city.

“Those who carried out military coups in Turkey can no longer be heroes governing the country, or be happy with saying ‘We are writing a new Constitution,’” Arınç said, adding that 1980 coup leaders Kenan Evren and Tahsin Şahinkaya were tried in court thanks to reforms that followed the 2010 constitutional referendum.

The deputy prime minister also said the current AKP government was trying to honor those killed after the coup 53 years ago by “strengthening democracy, extending the borders of freedom and removing all obstacles to the national will.”