The “Aegean Tour of Political Duty” of The Republican People’s Party and Uşak-İzmir Incidents in 1959

With the elections of 1950, The Democratic Party came into power in Turkey. Following a long period of single-party rule, The Democratic Party (DP) consolidated its power whereas The Republican People’s Party (CHP) began to adapt itself to the position of opposition after being overthrown by elections. In the new era, the primary question that arouses notable curiosity in Turkish political circles was what kind of relations will be set between the government and the opposition. In progress of time, the political atmosphere in Turkey deteriorated by mid-1950s and tension gradually incremented as the Democratic Party stabilized its power and opted to take several legal acts in order to restrict the political power of the opposition; in response, the opposition party resumed to address to the government in a fierce discource on every occasion. During this period of tense political unrest in Turkey, the year 1959 is recalled in Turkish political history as the year when the government and the opposition began to confront each other in their party rallies. İsmet İnönü, CHP leader was welcomed by huge crowds in any visits he paid throughout Turkey and in response, the ruling party was dispatching their own supporters to confront the CHP supporters. Within this stressful political atmosphere, CHP leader İsmet İnönü initiated their political campaign tour named “Aegean Tour of Political Duty” by the end of April, 1959 in the same itinerary followed by the Turkish Army in the Great Offensive (Battle of Dumlupınar in the War of Independence of Turkey, the Western Front). On the contrary; the government named this tour after “Aegean Offense” and were opposed to it. In this political excursion, İnönü was planning to involve in a series of political activities in Uşak (first stop of the campaign), Manisa, and İzmir provinces, as part of the party agenda. Yet, within the course of the tour, the supporters of the ruling and opposition party clashed with each other in the tour itinerary and it led to social events. The unrest occurred in Uşak, Manisa, İzmir, and İstanbul served as the first link of the chain of events that composed the process leading to the Military Coup of May 27, 1960. This paper intends to manifest the events that took place in Uşak and İzmir, based on archival references and press coverage in that period.

Keywords

Demokrat Party, Republican People’s Party, İsmet İnönü Aegean Tour of Political Duty, Aegean Of