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| 1971 |
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| A Turkish-American agreement to eliminate the production of opium in Turkey. The American-financed program had little effect on this lucrative industry. | 1 |
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| 1971–73 |
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| MILITARY INTERVENTION IN POLITICS. On March 12, the army deposed Prime Minister Demirel, whom it judged unable to maintain law and order, and replaced his government with a council of conservative politicians who were held responsible for leading the country back to stability. Although civilian institutions were retained, a series of measures restricted civil liberties, abolished the Turkish Workers Party, imposed martial law on a number of provinces, and unleashed the security forces on extremists. For the next two years, the government was managed by an unstable succession of coalition governments. The army restored full civilian rule in Oct. 1973, but the military's intervention had done nothing to strengthen the political system, which was still afflicted by factionalism and violence. | 2 |
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| 1972 |
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| Inauguration of Turkish television broadcasts. | 3 |
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| 1973–80 |
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| ECONOMIC INSTABILITY. A steep rise in oil prices threw the Turkish economy into disarray as the government struggled to pay higher energy bills. Difficulties with the balance of trade payments led to increased borrowing from foreign sources. The crisis was further aggravated by a decline in remittances from Turkish workers in Europe. Inflation, too, was a chronic problem and reached levels as high as 50 percent in 1978. | 4 |
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| 1973–80 |
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| WEAK COALITION GOVERNMENTS. The two largest parties, the Justice Party and the RPP, controlled most of the vote (at least two-thirds) but were unable to forge stable parliamentary alliances with fringe parties. One of the most consequential developments was the emergence of the National Salvation Party (it received 12 percent of the vote in 1973), which undermined the Justice Party in particular by depriving it of a large share of its conservative constituency. | 5 |
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| 1973 |
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Death of A ik Veysel (b. 1894), perhaps the most renowned Turkish minstrel of the 20th century. He was a blind Alevi from Sivas whose songs dwelt on themes of tolerance and humanity. | 6 |
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| Aug. 30 |
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| Opening of the Bosphoros Bridge to automobile traffic. | 7 |
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| Dec. 25 |
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| Death of ISMET INÖNÜ (b. 1884), one of the most important figures in the history of the Turkish Republic. He first came to prominence as one of the leaders of the Kemalist resistance in the Turkish War for Independence (1918–23). After the war he served as prime minister under Atatürk until 1937, and upon Atatürk's death, became president. In the postwar era, he was the politician chiefly responsible for introducing a multiparty political system. Though his own party, the RPP, suffered a massive and unprecedented defeat in the national elections of 1950, he personally oversaw the first transfer of power to the opposition in the history of the republic. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he remained active as one of the RPP's leaders and worked to keep the military out of politics. | 8 |
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