ABSTRACT
Modern Turkey was built upon the political structures erected by the Young Turks. The Ottoman parliament that had been restored in 1908 continued as the Grand National Assembly in Ankara, and the Young Turks' Committee of Union and Progress served as the model for Ataturk's own political vehicle, the Republican People's Party. Turkey was buffeted by one economic crisis after another, producing shortages of foreign currency that left it unable to import basic necessities. Coup leader General Kenan Evren and the ruling generals promised a return to civilian rule but made it clear they intended to transform Turkey's political system. Turkey again faced coalition politics in which personal rivalries played a major role. Especially in eastern Turkey, this social organization historically both perpetuated an identity separate from that of the rest of the Turkish population and divided the various tribes and clans into rival units.
