12 March: Contumacy

Synopsis

The slogan "Great Türkiye" began to be heard for the first time in the mid-60s. The Turkish economy had become unstable and stagnant at the hands of military interventions and the provisional government. After 1965, the system began to settle. The economy's also recovered. With the 2nd Development Plan, the wheels of a liberal economy were turned. On the 1 hand, private sector incentives, big projects such as Keban Dam and Bosphorus Bridge. Electricity was going to the villages, Turkey was getting its share from the growth in the world, the country was "doubling up" in the words of the prime minister. Inflation was five percent. Demirel, who rushed from one groundbreaking ceremony to the next, had nothing to say. Of course, this vitality was also reflected in social life. Unions, associations, universities were fidgety. The world and Türkiye were going to 1968 at full speed. The year that gave its name to a generation in the history of the world and Turkey; 1968 had come...