Today in History – 5/6 September

Party leaders sign the National Pact

The Constituent Assembly created after the coup d’état of May 27th had scheduled the general elections for October 15, 1961. In the transition to a democratic order, new political parties were to be formed, the new constitution was to be drafted, and the elections were to be held to establish the new parliament comprised of the Senate of the Republic and the Grand National Assembly.

Six new parties were founded on February 16, 1961 in line with the foreseen calendar. The text of the new constitution, on the other hand, was passed by the Constituent Assembly on May 27th and a referendum was held on it on July 9th. Next, on September 5, 1961 President of the State and Head of Government Cemal Gürsel invited representatives of political parties to a “round table” meeting at Çankaya Palace. The objective of the meeting was to put into writing consensual issues in the form of an agreement called the “National Pact” and to present it to the public.

Signed by People’s Republican Party (CHP) President İsmet İnönü, Justice Party (AP) President Rag?p Küçükpala, Republican Villagers Nation Party (CKMP) Deputy PresidentAhmet Oğuz, Liberal Party of the Homeland (MSP) President Enver Adakan, and New Turkey Party (YTP) President Ekrem Alican, the declaration sought to “free political life of unproductive, harmful, and even dangerous competition, to create a civilized and courteous environment in relations between parties, and to bring into life the democratic constitutional state that constituted the real essence of the coup of May 27th.”

The declaration sought to break with the past. Accordingly, the coup of May 27th would not be used for political gain and the Yassıada sentences would be kept outside of political debates.