The Turkish president on Wednesday marked the 60th anniversary of the country's first-ever military coup with the inauguration of the Democracy and Liberties Island.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said 60 years ago, Turkey experienced one of the darkest days of its history with May 27 coup.
Erdoğan stressed that not only then Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and his aides were tried in Yassıada, but also the Turkish history, culture, values and beliefs.
Speaking about the trials on the island, Erdoğan said it was not a trial but a "murder of law" in Yassıada.
Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, Vice President Fuat Oktay, Constitutional Court President Zühtü Arslan, Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalın, other bureaucrats, politicians, commanders-in-chief of armed forces, representatives of non-governmental organizations and bar associations also attended the inauguration ceremony.
Yassıada, one of the Princes' Islands located in the Sea of Marmara southeast of Istanbul, is notorious for jails and trials from the 1960 military coup. It was renamed Democracy and Liberties Island in 2013.
The island is where Turkey's first democratically elected Prime Minister Menderes, along with leading Democratic Party (DP) members, were arrested after the May 27, 1960 coup and later jailed and tried.
After a biased and illegal trial on the island, President Celal Bayar, Premier Menderes, Foreign Minister Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Finance Minister Hasan Polatkan were sentenced to death. Bayar later received clemency from the sentence.
