The 1960 Turkish coup d'état also known as the 27th May Revolution was the first coup d'état in the Republic of Turkey. It took place on May 27, 1960. The coup was staged by a group of 38 young Turkish military officers, acting outside the military chain of command. The officers were de facto led by Cemal Madanoğlu until the actual coup date. After a threat by Ragıp Gümüşpala that he would move to quell the coup unless it was led by someone with a higher military rank than himself, the officers brought in General Cemal Gürsel as their leader. The coup was carried out against the democratically elected government of the Democrat Party, and ultimately resulted in the execution of its prime minister, Adnan Menderes, alongside two of his ministers, Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Hasan Polatkan.

Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly in Anatolia in West Asia, with a smaller part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east; Iraq, Syria, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south; and the Aegean Sea, Greece, and Bulgaria to the west. Turkey is home to over 85 million people; most are ethnic Turks, while ethnic Kurds are the largest ethnic minority. Officially a secular state, Turkey has a Muslim-majority population. Ankara is Turkey's capital and second-largest city; Istanbul is its largest city, and its economic and financial center, as well as the largest city in Europe. Other major cities include İzmir, Bursa and Antalya.