May 27, 1960, Turkey witnessed a coup d’etat which stopped a ten-year period of democracy in the country. In fact, throughout the DP rule, different junta initiatives began to emerge within the military. Some small groups of officers began preparations to overthrow the political power. These had secret meetings among themselves. Some practices in the last period of the DP government encouraged the military officers who were in search of a military intervention. Criticisms about the authoritarian rule of the government led some intellectuals to cooperate with the pro-junta groups in the army. As a result, most colonels and a group of lower-ranking officers of the Armed Forces took action on May 27, 1960 for a coup d’etat. The head of the coup was the former Commander of the Land Forces Cemal Gürsel who had recently retired. By choosing a retired top general as the leader of the junta, the coup plotters were trying to prevent a possible dissolution among themselves. They also aimed at ensuring the support of the military as a whole through this manoeuvre.