A Time of Trial

Even to the most ardent supporter of Turkey's new military regime, the mass trial on Yassiada Island of hundreds of officials of the old civilian government seemed to be off to a shaky start. It was bad enough to begin with the trivial charge that ousted President Celal Bayar --onetime companion in arms to the late great Kemal Ataturk--had gypped the government in the sale of a shaggy dog. Last week the prosecution seemed intent on proving only that ex-Premier Adnan Menderes, married and the father of three sons, was indiscreetly fond of girls.

Careless Diva. The girl in the case was Turkish Opera Singer Ayhan Aydan, now a plumpish, red-haired 36. In 1951, just after her divorce from Ankara State Orchestra Conductor Ferit Alnar, Ayhan caught the eye of Menderes at a luncheon party. She was then a svelte 27, he a handsome and roving-eyed 52. In no time at all Premier Menderes was such a frequent caller at the singer's apartment that other tenants grew grumpily accustomed to being stopped and searched by bodyguards. Ayhan's apartment was kept plentifully stocked with Menderes' favorite Black Sea caviar and raki. For favors rendered, Menderes presented Ayhan with a black-lacquered American-style bar, a Buick of her own, and the use of a government limousine and chauffeur. By 1955 Menderes was spending more and more time with a new mistress, and Ayhan evidently decided that the way to hold him was to have a baby. Though she told investigators she had twice before been pregnant during her affair with the Premier, each time aborting, she now realized: "I loved him very much, I wanted to bear his child." When she went into labor, she hurriedly called Istanbul's Dr. Fahri Atabey, who had treated her in a previous interrupted pregnancy, asked him to come to Ankara in a hurry.

According to the prosecution, Dr. Atabey drove to Ayhan's Ankara apartment, arriving after the local doctor who delivered the baby had left, and put the baby to death under "encouragement" from Menderes. But the testimony in court was otherwise. Both Ayhan and Dr. Atabey said that he got there hours after the baby had died of natural causes.

Pretty Lace. Before calling Menderes, the prosecution attempted to set the scene by offering in evidence a pair of lace-trimmed silk panties found in his office safe in an envelope marked "historical records." Sneered Assistant Prosecutor Fahrettin Ozturk: "Now we know how tirelessly Menderes worked for the nation and why he used to say he was too busy to attend the National Assembly." On the stand, Menderes, haggard from five months' imprisonment, admitted to having had an affair with the singer, but denied being an accomplice to murder. "I never saw her face after the death of the baby. I was having a new affair, but we separated in a friendly way." Asked about his new inamorata, the old lover smiled broadly, "Let's forget about that." The audience laughed.

Other Misfire. The prosecution had done no better in attempting to prove that Bayar and Menderes had arranged to have a bomb planted near Ataturk's birthplace in the Greek city of Salonica in order to incite anti-Greek riots in Turkey in support of Turkish claims to Cyprus. The bombing touched off wild disorder in Istanbul, in which 73 Greek churches were destroyed and 4,000 Greek shops looted, with the loss of a vast quantity of irreplaceable religious art.

By arresting all the material witnesses, the new Turkish government had guaranteed there would be a minimum of evidence. A former concierge at the Turkish consulate in Salonica, who had confessed the bombing to Greek authorities, and a Turkish student who admitted being in on the plot both retracted their confessions, claimed their earlier admissions were obtained by force or trickery.

Shortly after the riots, Greek Orthodox Patriarch-Athenagoras had protested to Menderes that the violence seemed to be concerted and guided "by an unknown hand." On the witness stand, the patriarch admitted that he had no specific knowledge to back up his charge; he had gotten his information second hand. But two hours before the riots broke out, said Athenagoras, he had received a phone call from the governor of Istanbul, now one of the defendants, informing him, "There may be some demonstrations over Cyprus. But don't worry."

Wrecking Crews. More impressive was the testimony of Turkish General Arif Onat, who said he was appointed by Menderes after the riots to try to divert blame to anonymous "Communists." Said Onat: "I am fully convinced that the events were prearranged by the government. With my own eyes I saw looters being followed by the police, not to prevent their looting but to prevent outside interference with their actions." Onat said he also saw riot leaders holding lists of buildings to be destroyed and shouting instructions and encouragements to their wrecking crews.

At week's end the prosecution announced that it would skip over to evidence that officials were silent partners in firms receiving millions of dollars in government contracts. But all in all, it was a poor show. Said one courtroom observer, a Turkish newsman who had been haled into court on countless occasions for defying Menderes' oppressive press laws: "I fought Menderes, but not for this. If this is the best proof the government can produce, it would have been better to shoot the lot the morning of the revolution."

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