If he’s just an empty suit is it not possible that events might run away from him if power falls into his lap?
There were fears amongst senior officers that if they did not act quickly junior officers might “take things into their own hands”, perhaps this could happen?
The Soviet Union is right there after all, and I’m sure that they’d be perfectly willing to help…
I also know that Ecevit knew about the potential for a coup as early as June 1979, is it possible for him to do anything that could cause things to fall apart?
I don’t think empty suit was the right word to describe him as any more. He was just more of the same, though could be more incompetent or more ruthless. I honestly don’t know enough about him to really judge him on that, though he was generally a well respected man.
You’d need a POD before the coup to have junior officials to lead it, or have the entire security council die somehow, which would lead to junior officials taking over, and could radicalize them. Türkeş had already installed some of his men by then, but they had not yet reached any noteworthy status.
I’m not sure if the Soviets would want to aid the revolutionaries too clearly, as Turkey is a NATO-member and Reagan becomes president in 81. The leftists in Turkey were also hopelessly prone to internal fighting between the Tankies, Maoists, and the occasional Hoxhaists. The right was much more unified, but lacked numbers. With state backing they would unfortunately make mince meat of the left.
Ecevit was aware of the coup, but was also too proud of a bastard to make a deal with Demirel that he did not agree with. The latter was just a cunt who downplayed the risk, and thought he had things under control, as his coalition partners just threw gasoline on the fire. They could maybe strike a deal where they appoint some admiral as president, and bring the presidential election to an end, which leaves the military officials without their main casus belli for the coup. It could lead to things worsening in Turkey, as the PM would change every few months, and the right would continue to arm their side while in power, while the left would just continue ignoring the revolutionaries and their Soviet weapons, and go after fascist millitias instead.