The attitude of the newspapers against the military coups in Turkey from 27 May to 15 July

The subject of this study is the attitudes taken by newspapers during the coup d'etate and coup attempts that took place in Turkish political life during the Republican period. The study has been included the coup of 27 May 1960, the coup attempts led by Talat Aydemir on 21-22 February 1962 and 21 May 1963, the Memorandum of 12 May 1971, the coup of 12 September 1980, the Memorandum of 28 February 1997, and the coup attempt on 15 July 2016. With the exception of the first part of the study devoted to the theoretical background topic and the conclusion section, each remaining part of the study is devoted to the coup and coup attempts listed above in chronological order. Each military intervention, at least five newspapers that were prominent in the Turkish public opinion and selected among those with high circulation at the time of that intervention, were examined and the headlines and news contents of the newspapers and the explicit contents of the columns were discussed. Newspapers were examined through their publications during the two-month period between one month before and one month after the coup d'etate and coup attempts took place. The main arguments put forward throughout the study are: (I) Newspapers that play the role of democracy advocacy in ordinary times in Turkey tend to change their attitude towards power and pro-power during coup periods, and whether a military intervention attempt is successful or not may also directly affect the attitude of newspapers towards that attempt. (II) Newspapers, with their publications during the coup periods, have a significant share in the establishment of the coup tradition in Turkey and its legitimization by the broad masses for decades. (III) However, it is observed that there has been a significant transformation in newspapers' attitudes towards coups from 1960 to 2016 and that they have become much more sensitive about the military's intervention in politics.