President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, "The period of the May 27 coup, when the law was brutally violated through so-called trials, has remained as a dark stain on Türkiye’s history."
President Erdoğan issued a message on the 60th anniversary of the executions of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, Finance Minister Hasan Polatkan and Foreign Minister Fatin Rüştü Zorlu on September 16-17, 1961, following the May 27, 1960 coup.
Stating that one of the most painful and indelible incidents in Turkish political history occurred on September 16-17, 1961, President Erdoğan said:
"Adnan Menderes, who served Türkiye for years and served to our country’s democracy and development with the executives of the Democrat Party, which was the representative of the national will, was persecuted and exposed to injustice by the military coup. The period of the May 27 coup, when the law was brutally violated through so-called trials, has remained as a dark stain on Türkiye’s history. Menderes, Zorlu, and Polatkan, who left their imprints on people's hearts with their kindness, politeness, and humanitarian qualities, and who etched their names in history with their outstanding statesmanship and dignity, have retained privileged places in our nation's hearts even 60 years after their deaths. On the anniversary of their deaths, I once again respectfully remember great memories of the late Menderes and his friends, whose final words from the death row were 'I wish my state and my nation eternal happiness'. I once again wish Allah's mercy on Menderes, Zorlu and Polatkan, whom the nation regards as martyrs, and I express my condolences to our nation."