Özet:

The office of president took on an important position in the Turkish political system with the announcement of the Republic in 1923. Developments which took place in the election process of the sixth president, Fahri Korutürk and the inability to elect the seventh president by democratic means as factors in the military coup of 12 September 1980 made the presidential election important for Turkish public opinion. With the acceptance by referendum of the 1982 constitution, the election as president of the head of the military intervention, Head of Government Kenan Evren, occupies an important place in the recent history of Turkey. However, 1989, despite the democratic elections of 1983, was in fact when developments occurred which were to bring to an end nine years of military rule. This is because in the new term of office a truly civilian president was expected to take up residence in Çankaya. In the election, Turgut Özal, head of the Motherland Party (ANAP) and prime minister, was unsurprisingly elected as the eighth president of the Turkish Republic. From the day of his election, Turgut Özal took every opportunity to state that he would be a “different” president, and because of the difference in the way he did things and his approach to events, some of those around him reacted against it. In particular, his thoughts on the system of presidential government were much discussed in political and legal circles, and he even received criticism from his own party. In this study, the democratic organization of 1983 will be reviewed, and an evaluation will be made of the events leading up to the election as president of Turgut Özal, the leader of the single-party government of the Motherland Party, and of various events centred on Turgut Özal following his election.

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