Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will inaugurate Istanbul’s Democracy and Freedom Island on Wednesday on the 60th anniversary of a coup in Turkey, Anadolu news agency said.
“Yassiada, which is home to one of the darkest periods in the history of democracy, is reborn as the Island of Democracy and Freedoms,” Anadolu quoted Turkey’s Communications Directorate as saying.
Located in the Sea of Marmara southeast of Istanbul, Yassıada became notorious in the aftermath of the May 27, 1960 military coup for the imprisonment and trial of Turkey’s first democratically elected prime minister, Adnan Menderes.
Menderes was deposed and hanged along with two ministers on İmralı, another island in the Marmara Sea, in 1961.
Yassıada was renamed Democracy and Freedom Island in 2013.
The 18.3-hectare island has since been transformed and features an expansive complex that includes a 125-room hotel, conference hall, museum, exhibition halls, museum, cafes and restaurants.
Turkey has experienced multiple military coups during the past five decades with the latest attempt taking place on July 15, 2016. Over 300 people were killed and more than 2,100 were injured during the failed coup.
Ahval