The documents, which were kept in a red suitcase, now disclose
the true and accursed face of this first coup and shed light for
the first time on the general’s sufferings under the
perpetrators of the military takeover. When the May 27 coup was
staged, Erdelhun was the chief of General Staff. He was
initially forced to resign and consequently stripped of his
rank, a first in the history of Turkey. He was later arrested by
coup leaders on grounds of supporting the overthrown Democrat
Party (DP) against the military, becoming the first chief of
General Staff to be arrested and jailed in Turkey. Erdelhun
stood trial at Yassıada, a small island in the Sea of Marmara,
as a private and was sentenced to death. His sentence was later
commuted to life imprisonment, and he was subsequently pardoned
by the then-head of state Cemal Gürsel after serving
approximately one year in prison. Many have told stories about
the deplorable circumstances of the Yassıada trial and the
humiliation that Erdelhun and his friends were su