Presidential elections and debates in Turkey (1923-1980)

14 Presidential elections were held in the Republic of Turkey from October 29, 1923 until 1980. In this period, 6 Presidents took office. Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, was elected as the President 4 times in a row in 1923, 1927, 1931 and 1935. Although the Presidential elections in Atatürk's period had no disputes in general, disputes appeared only in the 1931 election regarding the Presidential term of office and the President's objectivity. M. İsmet İnönü, Atatürk's successor, was elected as the President four times in a row in 1938, 1939, 1943 and 1946. During this period, the disputes that emerged especially in the 1946 general elections also affected the Presidential election and it was protested by the opposition in the parliament. With the 1950 election, M. Celal Bayar was elected as the President three times in a row in 1950, 1954 and 1957 after the victory of the Democratic Party. In this period, the disputes focused on the general elections around the government and the opposition. Then, with the military intervention of May, 27 1960, the Turkish Armed Forces seized power and Cemal Gürsel, who retired from the General Staff after the 1961 general elections and entered the TBMM as a senator, was elected as the 4th President and took office. When Cemal Gürsel was unable to fulfill his duty anymore, Cevdet Sunay was elected as the 5th President as the candidate of the Army in 1966 together with the support of the CHP and the AP. In 1973, the Retired Admiral Fahri S. Korutürk, who was the candidate of consensus, was elected as the 6th President of the Republic of Turkey after a long process which started close to the end of the President Cevdet Sunay's duty but was concluded in the 15th Tour. And he continued his duty until the military coup on September 12,1980. Within the scope of the research, the Presidential elections were examined in the light of the Archival sources, the TBMM Record Papers, Newspapers and Documents. Key Words: President, Presidental Elections, Presidency, Atatürk, İnönü, Bayar, Gürsel, Sunay, Korutürk