A Coup in Turkey

The most dramatic, revealing and little-known story in Turkeys history - which illuminates the nation

Through the spellbinding career of a single, ill-fated leader, Jeremy Seal illuminates a bitterly divided country Colin Thubron

Read this book if youre interested in Turkey. Read it if youre interested in power, hubris and redemption. Read it Christopher de Bellaigue, author of The Islamic Enlightenment

In the spring of 2016 travel writer Jeremy Seal went to Turkey to investigate perhaps the most dramatic, revealing and little-known episode in the countrys history - the original coup of 1960, which deposed the traditionalist Prime Minister Adnan Menderes. The story of Menderes - to his adoring supporters the countrys founding democrat; to his sworn enemies its most infamous traitor - goes to the heart of the feud that continues to rage between the Western and secular ambitions of a minority elite and the religious and conservative instincts of the small-town majority. A Coup in Turkey is a thrilling account of the events leading up to the coup and the trials and executions that followed, a story of political subterfuge and score-settling, courtroom drama, state execution, authoritarian intolerance and ideological division.

Seal travels through President Erdogans Turkey, tracking down eye-witness accounts from survivors of the Menderes era in Istanbul, the historic metropolis, and the new capital at Ankara. As he expertly guides us through this extraordinary story, so the compelling parallels between past and present become strikingly clear, and he illuminates this troubled nation with a deep sympathy and love for the people and places he writes about. By focussing on one key event - one which many Turks regard with shame - this evocative, gripping portrait of Turkey recentres our understanding of the past and makes sense of one of Europes most bewildering yet intriguing neighbours.

A wonderful writer Robert Macfarlane