Abstract:

The last term of the Democratic Party, which began with the general elections on October 27, 1957, came to an end with a military coup on May 27, 1960. These years witnessed important events in terms of Turkish political history. The adverse developments in the economic field led to political problems in this period. The escalation of the government- opposition conflict, the deterioration of the government-army involvement and the government-university involvement brought about a number of events that threatened internal security and created a national security problem. The Turkish Police Department was one of the most affected institutions by this process. While the Police Department was accused of being pro-government, it had frequently come to the agenda with its interventions in the incidents. In this study, the events that threatened the internal security in the last period of the Democratic Party, the measures taken by the government in the face of these events and the attitude of the opposition were examined and the attitude and role of the Turkish Police Department in the face of the events were discussed. The study benefits from the Prime Ministry Republican Archive, parliamentary minutes, periodicals and some second-level sources. As a result, the police force, which is obliged to fulfill legal orders in all democratic countries, regardless of who is in power, fulfilled this duty in the last period of the Democratic Party. However, the police, which was insufficient in terms of quality and quantity in this period, had a lack of experience in the face of events that they had not encountered before. While the government’s use of the police as a shield in the face of events caused the police to come to the fore constantly, it also led to the loss of all its prestige and authority in the eyes of the citizens.

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