In 1975 Süleyman Demirel, President of the conservative Justice Party (AP) succeeded Bülent Ecevit, President of the social-democrat Republican People's Party (CHP) as Prime Minister. He formed a coalition of the Nationalist Front with Necmettin Erbakan of the fundamentalist MSP and the extreme right-wing MHP of Alparslan Türkeş. The MHP used the opportunity to infiltrate state security, which seriously aggravated the low-intensity war which was waged between rival factions.[1] The elections of 1977 had no winner. First Süleyman Demirel continued the coalition of the National Front. But in 1978 Ecevit was able to get to power again with the help of some deputies who had shifted from one party to another. In 1979, Demirel once again became Prime Minister. At the end of the 1970s Turkey was in an unstable situation with unsolved economic and social problems facing strike actions and partial paralyzation of politics (the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was unable to elect a President during the six months preceding the coup). Since 1968-69, a proportional representation system made it difficult to find any parliamentary majority. The interests of the industrial bourgeoisie, which held the largest holdings of the country, were opposed by other social classes such as smaller industrials, traders, rural notables, landlords, etc., whose interests did not always coincide between themselves either. Numerous agricultural and industrial reforms requested by parts of the middle upper classes were blocked by others.[1] Henceforth, the politicians seemed unable to combat the growing violence in the country.

Unprecedented political violence had erupted in Turkey in the late 1970s. The overall death-toll of the terror of the 1970s is estimated at 5,000, with nearly ten assassinations per day.[1] Most were members of left-wing and right-wing political organization, then engaged in bitter fighting. The ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves, youth organisation of the MHP party, claimed they were supporting the security forces.[2] According to the British Searchlight magazine in 1979, in 1978 they were 3,319 fascist attacks, in which 831 were killed and 3,121 wounded.[6] In the central trial against the left-wing organization Devrimci Yol (Revolutionary Path) at Ankara Military Court the defendants listed 5,388 political killings before the military coup. Among the victims were 1,296 rightwingers and 2,109 left-wingers. The others could not clearly be related.[7] The 1977 Taksim Square massacre with 35 victims and the 1978 Kahramanmaraş Massacre with over 100 victims are somehow outstanding in the series of attacks. Following the incidents in Kahramanmaraş martial law was announced in 14 of (then) 67 provinces in December 1978. At the time of the coup martial law had been extended to 20 provinces.

As a member of NATO and because of its geographical position, at the crossroads between Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East, Turkey was an important ally of the United States. Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Washington had lost its main ally in the region, while the Carter doctrine formulated on 23 January 1980 stated that the United States would use military force if necessary to defend its national interests in the Persian Gulf region. Turkey received large sums of economic aid mainly organized by the OECD and military aid from the NATO but the USA in particular.[8] Between 1979 and 1982 the OECD countries raised $4 billion in economic aid to Turkey.[9]

Washington started developing the Rapid Deployment Forces (RDF) in implementation of the Carter doctrine, for a quick intervention in areas outside NATO, particularly in the Persian Gulf, and without having to rely on NATO troops. On October 1, 1979 President Jimmy Carter announced the foundation of the RDF. One day before the military coup of 12 September 1980 some 3,000 American troops of the RDF started a maneuver Anvil Express on Turkish soil.[10] Just before the coup, the general in charge of the Turkish Air Forces had travelled to the United States.[1] At the end of 1981 a Turkish-American Defense Council (Türk-Amerikan Savunma Konseyi) was founded. Defense Minister Ümit Haluk and Richard Perle, then US Assistant Secretary of Defense of the new Reagan administration, and the deputy Chief of Staff Necdet Öztorun participated in its first meeting on 27 April 1982. On 9 October 1982 a Memorandum of Understanding (Mutabakat Belgesi) was signed with a focus of extending airports mainly in the Southeast for military purposed. Such airports were built in the provinces of