Today in History: 100.000 Murat 124 Automobiles Produced at TOFAŞ Automobile Factory

October 12 is the 285th (286th in leap years) day of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. The number of days left until the end of the year is 80.

Railways

• October 12, 1957 The first train-ferry built at Denizcilik Bank Haliç Shipyard was launched.

Events 

• 539 BC - Achaemenid King Cyrus the Great captured Babylon.
• 1492 – Discovery of America: Christopher Columbus reaches the Caribbean. But he thought he had come to the East Indies.
• 1596 – Eğri Castle in Hungary fell into the hands of the Ottomans.
• 1654 – A gunpowder warehouse explodes in Delft, Netherlands; More than 100 people were killed and over 1000 injured.
• 1692 - The Salem Witch Trials are ended by order of Massachusetts Governor William Phips.
• 1822 - Pedro I proclaims himself Emperor of Brazil.
• 1847 - German industrialist Werner von Siemens founded Siemens AG.
• 1917 – World War I: Mustard gas is used for the first time in the First Battle of Passchendaele, near the Belgian city of Ypres, killing nearly 20000 soldiers in one day.
• 1925 – Mustafa Kemal, after watching the maneuvers in Izmir, said that the army was ready to defend Turkish territory.
• 1928 - The ventilator is used for the first time in a children's hospital in Boston.
• 1937 – The trial of Seyit Rıza began.
• 1944 – II. World War II: The German occupation of Athens ends.
• 1953 – Beet Cooperatives Bank (Şekerbank) was established in Eskişehir.
• 1958 - Prime Minister Adnan Menderes asked the citizens to establish a "Homeland Front".
• 1960 - Inejiro Asanuma, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Japan, was stabbed to death during a television program.
• 1962 – Hurricane in northwestern USA: 46 dead.
• 1968 – 19th Summer Olympic Games started in Mexico City.
• 1968 – Equatorial Guinea gained its independence from Spain.
• 1969 – General elections were held. The Justice Party retained its power with 256 deputies. CHP 143, Güven Party 15, Nation Party 6, MHP 1, Turkey Unity Party 8, New Turkey Party 6, Turkey Workers Party 2 MPs.
• 1974 – The fifth day of the strike started in the workplaces affiliated to the Municipality in İzmir. Izmir streets and avenues were filled with garbage heaps.
• 1975 – In the by-elections for 54 Senators and 6 Members of Parliament; The Justice Party produced 27 Senators, 5 Deputies, the Republican People's Party 25 Senators, 1 Member of Parliament, and the National Salvation Party 2 Senators.
• 1975 – It was announced that 100.000 Murat 124 cars were produced at TOFAŞ Automobile Factory in Bursa.
• 1980 – President General Kenan Evren received Vehbi Koç.
• 1980 – 11th General census was held. During the curfew, the security forces carried out operations, and many people were detained. The population of Turkey was determined as 44.736.957.
• 1983 - Kakuei Tanaka, a former Prime Minister of Japan, is sentenced to 2 years in prison for taking a $4 million bribe from Lockheed.
• 1984 - The IRA bombed the hotel where Margaret Thatcher was staying. Thatcher survived, but 5 people died.
• 1991 – At the State Council meeting, where the President of the Soviet Union Gorbachev and other Republic leaders came together, it was decided to abolish the KGB.
• 1999 – Pervez Musharraf came to power in Pakistan in a bloodless coup.
• 2000 – 17 American soldiers were killed in an explosion on a US destroyer in the port of Aden, Yemen.
• 2002 - The United Nations declared October 12 as the International Day for Reduction of Natural Disasters.
• 2002 – A bomb attack on a crowded nightclub in Indonesia's touristic island Bali killed 202 people, mostly foreigners, and injured more than 300.
• 2003 – 30 patients died in a mental hospital fire in Belarus.
• 2004 – Metin Kaplan, the leader of the illegal organization called Anatolian Federated Islamic State, was brought to Turkey by private plane from Germany, where he was detained. Kaplan, who was arrested on 13 October, was put in Bayrampaşa Prison.
• 2005 – Shenzhou 6, China's second manned spacecraft, was launched and remained in orbit for 5 days.
• 2006 – The law proposal presented by the Socialist Party in France, which envisages the "Criminalization of the Denial of the Armenian Genocide", was accepted in the French Parliament by 19 votes to 106.
• 2006 – During the Israel-Lebanon war, the 261-person TAF Land Unit, which will serve as part of the UN Peacekeeping Force, departed for Lebanon.
• 2006 – Nobel Prize for Literature awarded to writer Orhan Pamuk.

Births 

• 1008 – Go-Ichijō, Emperor of Japan (d. 1036)
• 1240 – Trần Thánh Tông, Emperor of Vietnam (d. 1290)
• 1350 – Dmitri Donskoy, Grand Duke of Moscow and Grand Prince of Vladimir (d. 1389)
• 1490 – Bernardo Pisano, Italian singer, songwriter, and priest (d. 1548)
• 1533 – Asakura Yoshikage, Japanese Daimyo (d. 1573)
• 1537 – VI. Edward, King of England and Ireland (d. 1553)
• 1558 – III. Maximilian, Archduke of Austria (d. 1618)
• 1798 – Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil (d. 1834)
• 1808 – Victor Prosper Considerant, French socialist and leader of the Fourierist utopian movement (d. 1893)
• 1840 – Helena Modjeska, Polish-American actress (d. 1909)
• 1859 – Diana Abgar, Armenian diplomat and writer (d. 1937)
• 1865 – Arthur Harden, English chemist (d. 1940)
• 1866 – Ramsay MacDonald, British politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1937)
• 1872 – Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (d. 1958)
• 1875 – Aleister Crowley, English writer (d. 1947)
• 1889 – Christopher Dawson, English historian (d. 1970)
• 1891 – Edith Stein, German philosopher and nun (d. 1942)
• 1896 – Eugenio Montale, Italian poet (d. 1981)
• 1917 – Roque Máspoli, Uruguayan football player and manager (d. 2004)
• 1920 – Reha Oğuz Türkkan, Turkish lawyer, historian, author and Turkologist (d. 2010)
• 1921 – Art Clokey, US animator and director (d. 2010)
• 1928 – Türkan Akyol, Turkish academic and politician (d. 2017)
• 1928 – Domna Samiu, Greek researcher and artist (d. 2012)
• 1931 – Ole-Johan Dahl, Norwegian computer scientist (d. 2002)
• 1932 – Dick Gregory, American comedian, human rights activist, social critic, author, and entrepreneur (d. 2017)
• 1934 – Oğuz Atay, Turkish writer (d. 1977)
• 1934 - Richard Meier, an American architect
• 1935 – Don Howe, English former football player and manager (d. 2015)
• 1935 – Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor (d. 2007)
• 1945 – Aurore Clément, French actress
• 1948 – Rick Parfitt, English rock musician and guitarist (d. 2016)
• 1949 – Ilich Ramirez Sanchez (Carlos the Jackal), Venezuelan activist
• 1955 – Einar Aas is a Norwegian former football player.
• 1955 – Ashley Adams, Australian shooter (d. 2015)
• 1955 – Pat DiNizio, American rock musician, singer, and actor (d. 2017)
• 1956 – Allan Evans, Scottish former football player, manager
• 1957 – Clémentine Célarié, French actress and singer
• 1961 – Chendo is a Spanish national football player.
• 1962 - Carlos Bernard, American actor
• 1962 – Branko Srvenkovski, Macedonian politician
• 1963 – Raimond Aumann, German football player
• 1963 – Satoshi Kon, Japanese film director, animator, screenwriter, and manga artist (d. 2010)
• 1963 – Dave Legeno, English actor and martial artist (d. 2014)
• 1965 – Scott O'Grady is a retired airplane pilot.
• 1966 – Wim Jonk, Dutch national football player and manager
• 1968 – Anne Richard, Swiss actress and screenwriter
• 1968 Hugh Jackman, Australian actor
• 1969 – Željko Milinovic, Slovenian national football player
• 1970 – Kirk Cameron, American actor
• 1971 – Güntekin Onay, Turkish sports announcer and writer
• 1972 – Kamil Güler, Turkish cinema, theater and TV series actor
• 1974 – Ebru Gündeş, Turkish singer, presenter and actress
• 1975 – Fettah Can, Turkish singer, composer, lyricist and arranger
• 1975 – Marion Jones is a former US athlete.
• 1976 – Kajsa Bergqvist, Swedish former high jumper
• 1977 – Young Jeezy, American rapper and songwriter
• 1978 – Tolga Karel, Turkish TV series and film actor
• 1979 – Derya Can, Turkish freediver
• 1980 – Andreas Constantinou, Cypriot football player
• 1980 - Ledley King, English former football player
• 1981 – Engin Akyürek, Turkish TV series and movie actor
• 1981 – Sun Tiantian, Chinese tennis player
• 1983 – Alex Brosque, Australian international footballer
• 1983 – Carlton Cole, Nigerian-born English football player
• 1984 – Deniz Gönenç Sümer, Turkish theater artist (d. 2010)
• 1986 – Tyler Blackburn, American actor and singer
• 1986 – Yannis Maniatis, Greek national football player
• 1986 – Li Wenliang, Chinese ophthalmologist (announced to the world the next-generation coronavirus, which has become a pandemic) (d. 2020)
• 1988 – Calum Scott, English singer-songwriter
• 1990 – Bora Akkaş, Turkish TV series, film actress and rap singer
• 1990 – Henri Lansbury, English footballer
• 1992 – Josh Hutcherson, American actor
• 2004 – Darci Lynne, an American ventriloquist

Deaths 

• 322 BC – Demosthenes, Athenian politician (b. 384 BC)
• 638 - Honorius I was the pope from 27 October 625 to 12 October 638.
• 1320 – IX. Michael was co-emperor of Hungary between 1294/1295 – 1320 by using great powers with his father (b. 1277)
• 1492 – Piero della Francesca, Italian painter (b.~ 1420)
• 1576 – II. Maximilian, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1527)
• 1590 – Kanō Eitoku, Japanese painter of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (b. 1543)
• 1730 – IV. Frederick, King of Denmark and Norway from 1699 until his death (b.
• 1858 – Utagawa Hiroshige, Japanese firefighter and ukiyo-e master (b. 1797)
• 1870 – Robert Edward Lee, American general and Commander of the Confederate States Army (b. 1807)
• 1875 – Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, French sculptor and painter (b. 1827)
• 1896 – Christian Emil Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs, Danish noble and politician (b. 1817)
• 1898 – Calvin Fairbank, US abolitionist and Methodist pastor (b. 1816)
• 1915 – Edith Cavell, English nurse (b. 1865)
• 1924 – Anatole France, French writer (b. 1844)
• 1940 – Tom Mix, American actor (b. 1880)
• 1943 – Tayyar Yalaz, Turkish wrestler and President of the Turkish Wrestling Federation (b. 1901)
• 1946 – Joseph Stilwell, American general (b. 1883)
• 1947 – Ian Hamilton, British soldier (b. 1853)
• 1953 – Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, Swedish politician and academic (b. 1862)
• 1956 – Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı, Turkish poet (b. 1910)
• 1958 – Gordon Griffith, American actor and director (b. 1907)
• 1960 – Inejiro Asanuma, Japanese politician (b. 1898)
• 1965 – Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist and Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
• 1967 – Günther Blumentritt, German soldier (b. 1892)
• 1967 – Recai Akçay, Turkish architect (b. 1909)
• 1969 – Sonja Henie, Norwegian ice skater and film actress b. 1912)
• 1971 – Dean Acheson, American statesman and lawyer (b. 1893)
• 1971 – Gene Vincent, an American musician (b. 1935)
• 1974 – Felix Hurdes, Austrian lawyer and politician (b. 1901)
• 1979 – Charlotte Mineau, American actress (b. 1886)
• 1987 – Fahri Korutürk, Turkish soldier and 6th President of the Republic of Turkey (b. 1903)
• 1989 – Jay Ward, American animated television series creator and producer (b. 1920)
• 1990 – Rrahman Morina, Yugoslav communist politician and last General Secretary of the League of Communists of Kosovo (b. 1943)
• 1991 – Arkady Strugatsky, Russian novelist (b. 1925)
• 1996 – René Lacoste, French tennis player and founder of Lacoste (b. 1904)
• 1997 – John Denver, American singer (b. 1943)
• 1998 – Matthew Shepard, American student who was killed in a hate crime for being gay (b. 1976)
• 1999 – Udo Steinke, German writer (b. 1942)
• 1999 – Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player (b. 1936)
• 2001 – Hikmet Şimşek, Turkish conductor (b. 1924)
• 2002 – Ray Conniff, American musician (b. 1916)
• 2002 – Audrey Mestre, French world record holder freediver (b. 1974)
• 2006 – Gillo Pontecorvo was an Italian screenwriter and filmmaker (b. 1919)
• 2007 – Kishō Kurokawa, Japanese architect (b. 1934)
• 2010 – Pepín, former Spanish international football player (b. 1931)
• 2011 – Dennis Ritchie, American computer engineer (b. 1941)
• 2015 – Levent Kırca, Turkish theater and film actor (b. 1950)
• 2015 – Joan Leslie, American actress (b. 1925)
• 2016 – Kemal Unakıtan, Turkish bureaucrat and politician (b. 1946)
• 2018 – Pik Botha, South African politician (b. 1932)
• 2018 – Jan Jakob Tønseth, Norwegian poet, novelist and translator (b. 1947)
• 2019 – Mel Aull, Canadian football player (b. 1928)
• 2019 – Carlo Croccolo, Italian actor, screenwriter, dubbing artist and film director (b. 1927)
• 2019 – Sara Danius, Swedish critic, academic, educator and esthetician, former Nobel Committee member for Literature (b. 1962)
• 2019 – Nanni Galli, Italian Formula 1 racer (b. 1940)
• 2019 – Hevrin Halef, Syrian Kurdish politician and civil engineer (b. 1984)
• 2019 – Yoshihisa Yoshikawa, Japanese shooter (b. 1936)
• 2020 – Éric Assous, French producer, director, screenwriter and playwright (b. 1956)
• 2020 – Jacinda Barclay, Australian baseball and football player (b. 1991)
• 2020 – Aldo Brovarone, chief designer of Pininfarina (b. 1926)
• 2020 – Conchata Ferrell, American actress (b. 1943)
• 2020 – Nevzat Güzelırmak, Turkish former national football player, coach (b. 1942)
• 2020 – Yehoshua Kenaz, Israeli novelist and translator (b. 1937)
• 2020 – Roberta McCain, American elite personality (b. 1912)