İsmail Hakkı Karadayı, General of 'Postmodern Coup,' Dies at 88

Photo: AA

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Former General İsmail Hakkı Karadayı (88), who served between 1994 and 1998 as the Chief of General Staff, died today (May 26) in Istanbul.

He had been undergoing treatment for cancer in a private hospital. Born in the central province of Çankırı in 1932, Karadayı graduated from military school in 1951.

In a landmark decision in 2018, a court sentenced 21 people to aggravated life imprisonment over "postmodern coup" on February 28, 1997, including Karadayı and his deputy, General Çevik Bir.

The court concluded that Karadayı was involved in the downfall of the government.

Karadayı and most of the other figures who were convicted regarding the ousting of the government of then-Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan's Welfare Party (RP) were not arrested due to old age or health problems, but instead were only barred from leaving the country.

The court also said the army did not have the authority to intervene militarily or remove the democratic order as stated in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) Internal Service Law.

The "postmodern coup"

On February 28, 1997, the National Security Council, which consists of top army and government officials, released a 18-article declaration against what it called "reactionary activities" against the secular state.

On June 18, Erbakan resigned in accordance with a protocol with his partner in the coalition government, Tansu Çiller, the chair of the True Path Party (DYP). The two leaders had previously agreed on alternating the prime ministry between themselves until the elections.

However, then-President Süleyman Demirel assigned Mesut Yılmaz, the chair of the Homeland Party (ANAP), instead of Çiller, to form the government.

A new civilian government formed by three parties —the ANAP, the Democratic Left Party (DSP), and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)— then took over from Erbakan in a move that became known as the "postmodern coup." In January 1998, the RP was shut down by the Constitutional Court due to "activities violating the principle of the secular state."

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was the Mayor of İstanbul and a member of the RP at the time. In 2001, he left the Virtue Party (FP), the successor of the RP, to found the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has been in power since 2002. (PT/VK)