1980 Turkish coup d'état

1980 Turkish coup d'état
	Part of the Cold War
	; Daily newspaper Hürriyet's headline on 12 September 1980: "The army has seized the government."
Date	12 September 1980
Location	Turkey
Result	43rd government of Turkey overthrown; End to the political violence in Turkey (1976–1980); Military junta rule under martial law until 1983 Turkish general election; All political parties and groups banned; Political repression of dissidents; Kurdish language banned; Escalation of Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present);
Belligerents
National Security Council Turkish Armed Forces; Counter-Guerrilla	Government of Turkey; Opposition of Turkey
Commanders and leaders
Kenan Evren ; Nurettin Ersin ; Tahsin Şahinkaya ; Nejat Tümer; Sedat Celasun	Süleyman Demirel ; Bülent Ecevit

The 1980 Turkish coup d'état (Turkish: 12 Eylül darbesi, lit. 'September 12 coup d'état'), headed by Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren, was the third coup d'état in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the previous having been the 1960 coup and the 1971 coup by memorandum.

During the Cold War era, Turkey saw political violence (1976–1980) between the far-left, the far-right (Grey Wolves), the Islamist militant groups, and the state. The violence saw a sharp downturn for a period after the coup, which was welcomed by some for restoring order by quickly executing 50 people and arresting 500,000, of which hundreds would die in prison.

For the next three years the Turkish Armed Forces ruled the country through the National Security Council, before democracy was restored with the 1983 Turkish general election. This period saw an intensification of the Turkish nationalism of the state, including banning the Kurdish language. Turkey partially returned to democracy in 1983 and fully in 1989.