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Coups and Plots in Turkey Since 1960

Elements of Turkey's military attempted to seize control of the nation's government Friday night, with the president away from the capital.

It was not the first coup in the nation's history, Reuters reports. In fact, military coups in the last 60 years have unseated four elected governments in Turkey.

On May 2, 1960, an almost bloodless military coup was carried out and the commander of land forces, General Cemal Gursel, the following day demanded political reforms and resigned when his demands were refused.

Just over 10 years later, the military oversaw a "coup by memorandum" led to restore order after months of strikes and street fighting between leftists and nationalists.

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