Cemal Gürsel was a Turkish military officer and politician who was the 4th president of Turkey, serving from 1960 to 1966 after taking power in a coup d'état.

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.