26th government of Turkey

İsmet İnönü

The 26th government of Turkey (20 November 1961 – 25 June 1962) is also known as the first coalition government of Turkey and the eight government of İsmet İnönü. It is the first civilian government following 1960 Turkish coup d'état. The prime minister, İsmet İnönü, was the leader of Republican People's Party (CHP) and a former president. The coalition partner was Justice Party (AP).

Election

In the elections held on 15 October 1961, CHP received 36.7% and AP received 34.8%. Thus, CHP gained 173 seats and AP gained 158 seats in the 450-seat parliament. İnönü formed the first coalition government in the history of Turkey with AP. AP claimed to be the successor of Democrat Party (DP), which was banned by the leaders of the coup in 1960. In the coalition, the main task of İnönü was to end the tension between the former coup leaders and the Justice Party. In the relatively short duration of the government, Justice Party tried to lift the ban on the former DP politicians, and the former coup partisans opposed this policy. On 22 February 1962, Turkey was faced again with an attempted coup, but İnönü managed to suppress it.^[1]

The government

Some of the cabinet members were changed during the lifespan of the cabinet. In the list below, the serving period of cabinet members who served only a part of the cabinets lifespan are shown in the column "Notes".

Title[2][3]	Name	Party	Notes
Prime Minister	İsmet İnönü	CHP
Deputy Prime Minister	Ali Akif Eyidoğan	AP
Minister of State
	Turhan Feyzioğlu	CHP
	Avni Doğan Hıfzı Oğuz Bekata	CHP	20 November 1961 – 23 May 1962 23 May 1962 – 5 June 1962
	Necmi Ökten	AP
	Nihat Su	AP
Ministry of Justice	Kemal Sahir Kurutluoğlu	Indep
Ministry of National Defense	İlhami Sancar	CHP
Ministry of the Interior	Ahmet Topaloğlu	AP
Ministry of Foreign Affairs	Selim Sarper Feridun Cemal Erkin	CHP Indep	20 November 1961 – 26.03-1962 26 March 1962 – 5 June 1962
Ministry of Finance	Şefik İnan	CHP
Ministry of National Education	Hilmi İncesulu	CHP
Ministry of Public Works	Emin Paksüt	CHP
Ministry of Commerce	İhsan Gürsan	AP
Ministry of Health and Social Security	Süleyman Suat Seren	AP
Ministry of Customs and Monopolies	Şevket Pulatoğlu	AP
Ministry of Agriculture	Cavit Oral	AP
Ministry of Transport	Mustafa Cahit Akyar	AP
Ministry of Labour and Social Security	Bülent Ecevit	CHP
Ministry of Industry	Fethi Çelikbaş	CHP
Ministry of Culture and Tourism	Kamran Evliyaoğlu	AP
Ministry of Settlement	Mehmet Muhittin Güven	AP

Aftermath

In the last month of the coalition government, the main issue was the idea of an amnesty act for the former DP members. According to an interview, İnönü thought that the split of opinion on this issue made the government nonfunctional, and he resigned.^[4]

References

1. Şevket Süreyya Aydemir:İkinci Adam, Cilt III, Remzi Kitabevi, İstanbul, 1999, ISBN 975-14-0037- 6, sf 545-546
2. Official page of prime minister Archived 15 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
3. Official page of the parliament
4. İnönü memorial (91) (Turkish)