On May 27, 1960, Turkish army units, under the direction of the chief of General Staff, Cemal Gürsel, seized the principal government buildings and communications centers and arrested President Bayar, Prime Minister Menderes, and most of the DP representatives in the Grand National Assembly, as well as a large number of other public officials. Those arrested were charged with abrogating the constitution and instituting a dictatorship. The coup was accomplished with little violence and was accepted quickly throughout the country.

General Gürsel, who had fought at Gallipoli under Atatürk, temporarily assumed the positions of president, prime minister, and defense minister. At the outset, Gürsel announced that the committee's rule would be of an interim nature and that government would be returned to civilian hands at an early date.

After the organization of a new constitution and elections in October 1961, General Gürsel was elected President. In early 1966 Gürsel's health became an issue. He was flown on February 2 to the Walter Reed military hospital in Washington, D.C. on board of the airplane of US President Lyndon B. Johnson. One week later, he felt into a coma there. The government decided his return to Turkey on March 24. Regarding the health report of a medical committee consisting of 37 doctors at the military hospital GATA in Ankara, the parliament ruled on March 28, 1966 that his presidency terminates in accordance with the constitution due to his inabili

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On May 27, 1960, Turkish army units, under the direction of the chief of General Staff, Cemal Gürsel, seized the principal government buildings and communications centers and arrested President Bayar, Prime Minister Menderes, and most of the DP representatives in the Grand National Assembly, as well as a large number of other public officials. Those arrested were charged with abrogating the constitution and instituting a dictatorship. The coup was accomplished with little violence and was accepted quickly throughout the country.

General Gürsel, who had fought at Gallipoli under Atatürk, temporarily assumed the positions of president, prime minister, and defense minister. At the outset, Gürsel announced that the committee's rule would be of an interim nature and that government would be returned to civilian hands at an early date.

After the organization of a new constitution and elections in October 1961, General Gürsel was elected President. In early 1966 Gürsel's health became an issue. He was flown on February 2 to the Walter Reed military hospital in Washington, D.C. on board of the airplane of US President Lyndon B. Johnson. One week later, he felt into a coma there. The government decided his return to Turkey on March 24. Regarding the health report of a medical committee consisting of 37 doctors at the military hospital GATA in Ankara, the parliament ruled on March 28, 1966 that his presidency terminates in accordance with the constitution due to his inability. He died on apoplexy on September 14, 1966 in Ankara.

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