Movies by Mehmet Ali Birand

12 March: The Junta

12 March: The Junta

We are now saying goodbye to the 1960s. The 60's started eventfully on May 27. It ended as eventfully as it began. The '70s inherited escalating violence, student riots, and rumors of intervention. Prime Minister Demirel was trying to put out the fire in the street and to calm the increasingly restless army on the other. The October 1969 elections were held in this atmosphere and the Justice Party came out of the ballot box again. May 27 came by overthrowing the DP government, but the AP, which declared that three of the three elections hel...

12 Mart: "Sağ-Sol"

12 Mart: "Sağ-Sol"

In 1965,a two-month-old leader,the commander of the Western Front, knocked down the big plane tree in a shake. One was 40, the other 80. In the last 5 years, it wasnt even possible to think of a government without İnönü in the country,but things were changing.Actually, Demirel was supposed to take the task, but the AP leader did not want it. It's good for the prime minister. He was inexperienced. A moderate name was found for this eight-month temporary period: Suat Hayri Ürgüplü, one of the former ministers of İnönü, and the new EP Senator. ...

12 Mart: "Demir-El"

12 Mart: "Demir-El"

By the end of 1963, the word coup was no longer spoken in Turkey. Talat Aydemir is history, the last tremors of the May 27 earthquake have passed and the sliding faults of the regime have begun to settle into place. In this transition period, which lasted more than four years, the person who managed to get the ship to the port without running aground was İsmet İnönü. He ruled for four troubled years in a country torn between armed uprisings, Cyprus crises, coalition governments and regime debates. But meanwhile, he was also worn out. In the...

Demirkırat: Fight

Demirkırat: Fight

It's easy to say... After 23 years of single-party rule, Turkey decided to try democracy once again in 1946. In every attempt up to that time, the regime had been turned upside down and given up in a short time. Now a new one was coming. Would he be able to reach the multi-party regime that has been pursued since Atatürk this time? The calendar of democracy began to run on the morning of Monday, January 7, 1946. That day was a turning point in Turkish political history. The Republic of Turkey woke up with a single party in the morning, it w...

Demirkırat: Victory

Demirkırat: Victory

Societies, like people, have turning points in their histories. These milestones sometimes silently and spontaneously knock on the door, and sometimes they explode like a terrifying thunderclap. The year 1950 was such a turning point for Turkey. A simmering social reaction against 27 years of power erupted in the spring of 1950. Society has cracked its quarter-century shell. Not by shedding blood in the streets, but by voting at the ballot boxes. "Demirkırat" was reared by the general vote. That's why the 14 May 1950 elections were always c...

12 Mart: Gripes

12 Mart: Gripes

Revolutionaries passed before the streets of the 1960s on the road to democracy. Then the youth with the victory songs, the workers with the rebel flags, the rightists, the leftists and the putschists again. The country spent 12 years in the grip of the revolution and in the end all roads came to the same crossroads. Ankara was restless in the minutes when the ousted prime minister of the Democratic Party, Adnan Menderes, was hanged. The news of Menderes' execution had not yet come. There was an anxious wait in the houses. Ears were on the r...

12 March: Rematch

12 March: Rematch

Demirkırat stumbled on March 12, 1971. Actually, you know, they shoot limping horses. But this time it didn't. Turkish democracy continued to run despite its wounds. Because March 12 was not a "seizure" but a "warning". The generals were saying, "If what we want is not done, we will seize it." The country was entering a new era under this Sword of Damocles. A president who was helpless in the face of events, a prime minister who had to leave his seat, a newly fallen parliament, four generals neither inside nor outside the power... Now, a so...

Demirkırat: The Goverment

Demirkırat: The Goverment

The spring of 1950 was also the spring of the multi-party regime in Turkey. A new 10 years, a new regime, a new government. The first test of democracy was beginning. The National Chief of the single-party period had returned to his Pink Mansion. The address of the opposition was clear now. When it comes to power... Power was shared by a tripartite trivet from the first day: DP Group in the Parliament. Celal Bayar in the Mansion and Adnan Menderes in the Prime Ministry..

Sakıp Sabancı

Sakıp Sabancı

Working, working, working... Here are the words that make up a contemporary Turkish fairy tale. In fact, this fairy tale is not just the story of one person or a family. It is also the story of a country...

Vehbi Koç

Vehbi Koç

Some people have zeros, make big bucks. He becomes rich like the wives. Everyone talks about their money. As long as they are alive, they are always talked about. But then? Then they are forgotten... The idea of talking to you about a completely different person in this documentary. His life is like a history book. It opened its eyes with the Ottomans, took its first steps with the Young Turkish Republic, grew with the growing Turkey, became a giant, but did not show its giantness. He said that if the state exists, I exist too. It has become...

12 September: Coup Diary

12 September: Coup Diary

Turkish democracy got over May 27 and March 12 and set off again, but the storm did not subside, and the mutual reckoning was not over. On the contrary, new fronts were opened in the country and blood began to flow like a gutter. Finally, on September 12, there was a knock on the door again. Those who came that day changed everything, everything. Nothing will ever be the same again

Demirkırat: Chief

Demirkırat: Chief

The multi-party democratic regime that we take for granted in Turkey today is actually the product of 23 years of struggle and search. From the establishment of the Republic until 1946, three attempts were made to transition from a single party to a multi-party. The first of these was in 1924. Progressive Republican Party came up against the Republican People's Party that ruled the country. However, this period, when a new republic was built in pain, did not allow an oppositional voice to survive. The Progressive Party was closed after six m...

50 Years of Cyprus: War and Peace

50 Years of Cyprus: War and Peace

32.Day, a news classic by Mehmet Ali Birand, is with you this time with the documentary 50 Years of Cyprus!

50 Years of Cyprus: Separation

50 Years of Cyprus: Separation

32.Day, a news classic by Mehmet Ali Birand, is with you this time with the documentary 50 Years of Cyprus!

50 Years of Cyprus: Black and white hopes

50 Years of Cyprus: Black and white hopes

32.Day, a news classic by Mehmet Ali Birand, is with you this time with the documentary 50 Years of Cyprus!

50 Years of Cyprus: Final

50 Years of Cyprus: Final

32.Day, a news classic by Mehmet Ali Birand, is with you this time with the documentary 50 Years of Cyprus!

Sects of Turkey

Sects of Turkey

We feel as if we are discovering Turkey for the first time. All of a sudden, we came across a Türkiye with imam marriage and congregations. Actually, that Türkiye has always existed, but we seem to be ignoring it. Especially the iftar dinner given by Prime Minister Erbakan to the leaders of the sect suddenly increased the discussions even more. Sects are a danger to the Republic for some of us, and star people for peace in the country according to others. Regardless, the truth of sects is now a part of our lives. Tonight we will open a 2-par...

Demirkırat: Island

Demirkırat: Island

It is a famous saying: "One can come to power with a bayonet, but not sit on it." The organization, which carried out 27 May, came to power with a bayonet. Moreover, these young officers seized power that night by breaking the traditional chain of command. In the morning, a 10-year DP period was over, the support of the public was gained at first hand, and a brand new phase was reached. Now, the days that would mark the future of Turkey were beginning. Now, as those days put it, the "second republic period" was beginning.