Coup Atlas Research Database
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64002221962AttemptedMilitary coup

Turkey, 1962 — military coup attempt

Turkey (TUR)Western Asia, AsiaFebruary 22, 1962

Event Summary

On 22 February 1962 Staff Colonel Talat Aydemir, commander of the Turkish Military Academy, led a failed coup attempt, known as the February 22 Incident, against the coalition government of Prime Minister Ismet Inonu and the civilian order that had been restored after the 1960 military coup. Aydemir and his associates, opposed to the return to full civilian rule and resentful of dismissals and appointments within the officer corps, mobilized cadets and sympathetic units and took control of much of Ankara. But they lacked the backing of the army high command, especially the Chief of the General Staff, and once it was clear they could not prevail without it, the coup leaders surrendered without any loss of life.

The government initially treated the plotters leniently, granting a pardon, but Aydemir mounted a second, bloodier coup attempt in May 1963 for which he was tried and executed.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Prime Minister Ismet Inonu and the civilian government survived the February 1962 coup attempt; the coup leaders surrendered
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Ismet Inonu (prime minister of Turkey, target)
Talat Aydemir (colonel, military academy commander, coup leader)
Cevdet Sunay (chief of the general staff who opposed the coup)

Sources

The 1962 attempted coup in Turkey, also known as the February 22 Incident, was led by the Commander of the Turkish Military Academy, Staff Colonel Talat Aydemir and his associates, who were opposed to the democratically elected government.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, 1962 Turkish coup attempt open source ↗
Despite taking control of much of Ankara, the coup leaders quickly realised they could not prevail and surrendered without any loss of life occurring.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, 1962 Turkish coup attempt open source ↗
Aydemir and the colonels who wanted a military intervention lacked the support of the generals, especially the Chief of the General Staff Cevdet Sunay, and so would have been acting outside the chain of command if they moved on their own.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, 1962 Turkish coup attempt open source ↗
Following the initial lenience shown to the rebels after the 1962 coup attempt, where they were granted a full pardon, Aydemir went on to lead a further coup attempt in 1963 for which he was arrested and sentenced to death.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, 1963 Turkish coup attempt open source ↗

Editorial Note

Date match, well documented. Follows the 1960 Turkish coup in the dataset arc and pairs with Aydemir's 1963 second attempt. Dataset leader fate of remained in office is accurate.

Cross-Reference

Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
64002221962
Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-640-1962-02-22

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Prime Minister Ismet Inonu and the civilian government survived the February 1962 coup attempt; the coup leaders surrendered.

Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Luttwak (27 February 1962)

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

New York Times

“INONU CRITIC SEIZED BY POLICE IN TURKEY,” July 10, 1962

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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