Remains of interior minister during İstanbul pogrom to be moved to memorial cemetery

The remains of İsmail Namık Gedik, Turkey’s interior minister during the 1955 İstanbul pogrom and at the time of the 1960 military coup, will be transferred to a memorial cemetery in İstanbul under a decision signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said late yesterday.

Kürşad Zorlu, a deputy chair of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), described the transfer as a state effort to address Gedik’s place in Turkey’s political history.

“This is not merely the transfer of a grave. This step is the completion by the state, 66 years later, of an unfinished page of history,” Zorlu said. “Namık Gedik served in important roles in our country’s political life as an Aydın lawmaker and interior minister during the Democratic Party era.”

Gedik was serving as interior minister when the military seized power on May 27, 1960. After learning of the coup, he urged President Celal Bayar and Prime Minister Adnan Menderes to leave Ankara. Menderes left the capital, while Bayar remained.

Gedik was detained by soldiers after the coup and taken to the Military Academy. Authorities announced that he died by suicide after jumping from a window of the building where he was being held.

Menderes was executed by hanging following the trials held after the coup. Erdoğan has long embraced Menderes’s political legacy and sought to honor both the former prime minister and the Democratic Party government that was ousted in the coup.

Gedik’s death

There were also claims that Gedik took his life after being unable to endure torture. In a letter to his wife written in the old Turkish script, he said he had entered “a road of no return.” His family confirmed the letter was authentic, and his son Arda Gedik said he believed his father had died by suicide. Accounts of Gedik’s death have differed over the years.

Gedik was initially buried at Karşıyaka Cemetery in what was described as a “secret and unmarked” location. His remains were later transferred to Cebeci Asri Cemetery following efforts by his family.

Gedik had also been interior minister during the İstanbul pogrom of Sep 6-7, 1955, which primarily targeted the city’s Greek population and also affected Armenian and Jewish communities. Thousands of homes, businesses, schools and churches were looted, vandalized or burned.

Gedik resigned on Sep 10 amid criticism following the violence. He returned to the Interior Ministry on Oct 12, 1956, and remained in office until the coup.

Hikmet Bil, the head of the Cyprus is Turkish Association, which played an active role in the pogrom, later wrote about the events in his book “The Cyprus Issue and Its Inside Story.” Bil, who also testified during the Yassıada trials, named Bayar, Menderes and Gedik as the senior figures behind the organization of the events.

During an investigation after the pogrom, İstanbul Governor Fahrettin Kerim Gökay said he had informed Gedik that demonstrations related to the Cyprus issue were expected in İstanbul. Gedik was subsequently questioned as part of the investigation. (Mİ/VK)