Today in History – 16 November

İnönü becomes a member of the Senate

Resigning from CHP and his post as a deputy in early November of 1972, İnönü assumed his constitutional seat reserved for former presidents in the Senate of the Republic on November 16, 1972.

As one of the tree types of membership comprising the Senate of the Republic founded according to the Constitution of 1961, “natural senators” were divided into two groups. One group constituted the president and members of the National Unity Committee. In this group, President Cemal Gürsel acted as natural senator for 6 months, Cevdet Sunay for 7 years; İsmet İnönü for 13 months, and Fahri Korutürk for 5 months on paper. In 1974, former President Celal Bayar was also offered natural senatorship, but he declined the offer by saying, “I fought for democracy my entire life. There is no such thing as natural senatorship in a democracy.”

The Republic of the Senate was excluded from the 1982 Constitution drafted after the military coup of 1980 and the title “natural senatorship” was dissolved.