Measured Terror: The 1926 Turkish Coup

Turkey has a long history of coups, but a failed attempt on the life of President Kemal Atatürk in 1926 had a lasting impact on the country. One foreign journalist recorded the reprisals that followed with admiration – which soon turned to fear.

Stefan Ihrig | Published in History Today Volume 67 Issue 2 February 2017

Detail from the front cover of French newspaper Le Petit Journal Illustré, covering the execution of the 15 deputies, 1 August, 1926. Is this going to be Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Reichstag fire? Are Stalinist purges coming Turkey’s way? These were just some of the historical parallels drawn in the immediate aftermath of the failed coup d’état staged against President Erdoğan in July 2016. But Turkey does not need to look so far.