Cincinnatus: Difference between revisions
Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.8
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* Juan Carlos I of Spain. Handpicked by the infamous dictator Francisco Franco to succeed him. During Franco's rule he seemed to be a loyal supporter and destined to continue Franco's policies. All the insiders believed it would be business as usual after Franco was dead. Once Franco was in the ground and Juan had become King of Spain and received the absolute power of his predecessor, he voluntarily used that power to turn Spain into a constitutional monarchy with a Westminster style-Parliament, knowingly and willingly reducing himself to a figurehead in the process. And ''then'', he personally browbeat the officers who attempted a coup to return to the good old Franco days into submission.
** Similarly, when Venezuelan dictator Juan Vicente Gómez chose his War Minister Eleazar Lopez Contreras as his successor, people expected him to continue managing the country as his personal farm. Instead, he made a deep social reform and cut down the presidential term from seven years to five years and served only three or four years of it, quitting and abandoning politics altogether.
* Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (lit. "Father of Turks") was an officer in the Turkish military who parlayed his victories against Allied forces (especially at Gallipoli) into becoming the first leader of the modern Turkish Republic. He made himself the first Prime Minister and first Speaker of Parliament, but he gave up those titles in a matter of years, though he remained President (a ceremonial role) for the rest of his life. Kemalism is so strong an influence in Turkey that coups are performed by the military (which is extremely popular as a political force) when their leaders perceive that the government is acting inappropriately to his spirit. Power is typically handed back to democratically-elected officials within years, peacefully. To date, this has happened approximately four times (1960, '71, '81, and '97), and the potential for another coup is credited by some for keeping the currently-ruling Islamic party from interfering with Turkey's tradition of secular government. Turkish votes very nearly made Ataturk the "Man of the Century" in a [https://web.archive.org/web/20000408225402/http://www.time.com/time/time100/time100poll.html Time poll] for the same title.
** At least, the Turkish army ''thinks'' of itself as defending Turkey from the super-religious AK Parti. Since the big examples of Islamism include trying to lift a government ban on headscarves and the AKP has more female MPs & ministers than any previous parliament, we can take their claims with a pinch of salt.
** It's also interesting to note that the [[Cult of Personality]] around Ataturk didn't really manifest until ''after'' his death. He certainly wanted to be admired and for Turkey to follow his example, but there's no indication that he wanted the quasi-religious level of worship that Kemalism has turned into.
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