Today in History: Turkish Armed Forces Issued the 12 March Memorandum

March 12 is the 71th day of the year (72st in leap years) according to the Gregorian calendar. The number of days left until the end of the year is 294.

Railways

• 12 March 1911 Additional contract was signed with Germans on Baghdad Railways. The points of objection were taken into consideration. Baghdad-Basra bay line and port concession were abandoned.

Events

• 1664 - New Jersey becomes a colony of the Kingdom of England.
• 1881 - Tunisia is occupied by France.
• 1894 - Coca-Cola is first sold in bottles.
• 1913 - The future capital of Australia officially becomes Canberra. Melbourne temporarily remained the capital until 1927.
• 1918 - Moscow became the capital of Russia. Saint Petersburg has retained its capital status for the past 215 years.
• 1921 - The London Conference ends. The Allies offered peace.
• 1921 – The National Anthem of the Turkish Nation was accepted in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
• 1925 - Chinese leader Sun Yat-sen dies, replaced by General Chiang Kai-shek.
• 1928 – St. Francis Dam collapsed; 400 people died.
• 1930 - In India, Mahatma Gandhi embarked on the 300-mile "Salt Walk" (Salt Satyagraha) from Ahmetabat to the sea to oppose the Government monopoly of salt production.
• 1938 – German troops entered Austrian territory and formally annexed Austria the next day.
• 1947 – Harry Truman requests authorization from the US Congress to provide a total of $400 million in aid to Turkey and Greece for their relief from Soviet Union oppression and to provide training in the US for their civil and military personnel.
• 1958 – The 3rd Eurovision Song Contest was held. France took 1st place with André Claveau's song “Dors Mon Amour”. As in 1956, there were no English songs this year.
• 1967 – Suharto takes over the post of President of Indonesia from Sukarno.
• 1971 – Turkish Armed Forces gave the 12 March Memorandum. Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel resigned after this development. Memorandum; It was signed by Chief of General Staff Memduh Tağmaç, Land Forces Commander Faruk Gürler, Air Force Commander Muhsin Batur and Naval Forces Commander Celal Eyiceoğlu.
• 1977 – Taner Akçam, who was sentenced to 9 years in prison for allegedly making propaganda for communism and Kurdishism, escaped from prison.
• 1979 – Pakistan announces leaving CENTO. One day later, with the departure of Iran, CENTO ceased to exist.
• 1979 – In Aydın, a person named Hüseyin Member burned down the house of the family he had drawn blood. A woman and her four children were burned to death. Member was executed during September 12.
• 1985 – The “New Weapons Control Talks” on Strategic Nuclear Forces, Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, Space and Defense Systems began in Geneva between the Soviet Union and the USA.
• 1985 – The Turkish Embassy in Ottawa was attacked by armed Armenian militants. A Canadian policeman died. Ambassador Coşkun Kırca escaped with injuries.
• 1987 – The musical Les Misérables premiered on Broadway.
• 1989 – Sir Tim Berners-Lee presents his proposal for an information management system to CERN, which later evolved into the World Wide Web.
• 1993 – 300 people are killed in a car bomb attack in Mumbai.
• 1995 – Three Alevi coffeehouses in Gazi District were scanned with automatic weapons at night; 1 person was killed and 20 people were injured. In the events that followed, many lives and property were lost.
• 1999 – former members of the Warsaw Pact; The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined NATO.
• 2000 – Pope II. John Paul sought forgiveness for the past sins of the Church against Jews, dissidents, women, and natives.
• 2003 - Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić was killed in Belgrade.
• 2004 – In Syria, the Qamishli Incidents broke out.
• 2011 – The Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant explodes, resulting in radiation to the atmosphere the day after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
• 2020 – Education was suspended by the Ministry of National Education in Turkey.

Births

• 1613 – André Le Nôtre, landscape and garden architect to King Louis XIV (d. 1700)
• 1685 – George Berkeley, English philosopher (d. 1753)
• 1710 – Thomas Arne, English composer (d. 1778)
• 1790 – John Frederic Daniell, English chemist and physicist (d. 1845)
• 1815 – Louis-Jules Trochu, French military leader and politician (d. 1896)
• 1821 – John Joseph Caldwell Abbott, Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1893)
• 1824 – Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (d. 1887)
• 1835 – Simon Newcomb, Canadian-American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1909)
• 1838 – William Henry Perkin, English chemist and inventor (d. 1907)
• 1843 - Gabriel Tarde, French writer. sociologist, criminologist, and social psychologist (d. 1904)
• 1859 – Ernesto Cesàro, Italian mathematician (d. 1906)
• 1860 – Bernát Munkácsi, Hungarian Turcologist (d. 1937)
• 1863 – Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian author, war hero, and politician (d. 1938)
• 1863 – Vladimir Vernadski, Ukrainian mineralogist and geochemist (d. 1945)
• 1869 George Forbes, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1947)
• 1877 – Wilhelm Frick, Nazi Germany's Minister of the Interior (d. 1946)
• 1878 – Musa Ćazim Ćatić, Bosnian poet (d. 1915)
• 1881 – Väinö Tanner, Prime Minister of Finland (d. 1966)
• 1889 – Vaclav Nijinski, Polish ballet dancer (d. 1950)
• 1890 – Idris I, King of Libya (d. 1983)
• 1891 – Yevgeny Polivanov, Soviet linguist (d. 1938)
• 1905 Takashi Shimura, Japanese actor (Seven Samurai) (d. 1982)
• 1910 – Masayoshi Ōhira, Japanese politician (d. 1980)
• 1912 – Fethi Çelikbaş, Turkish politician (d. 2009)
• 1922 – Jack Kerouac, American author (d. 1969)
• 1927 – Raúl Alfonsín, Argentine lawyer and politician (d. 2009)
• 1928 – Edward Albee, American playwright (d. 2016)
• 1930 – Ann Emery, English actress (d. 2016)
• 1931 – Herb Kelleher, American entrepreneur, businessman, and executive (d. 2019)
• 1938 – Patricia Carli, Italian-French pop singer, composer, and songwriter
• 1943 – Ratko Mladic, Yugoslav soldier
• 1944 – Nursu Marmara, Turkish clinical psychologist
• 1946 – Liza Minnelli, American singer
• 1947 – Mitt Romney, American politician
• 1948 – James Taylor, American singer, songwriter, and guitarist
• 1952 – Hulusi Akar, Turkish soldier, Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Turkey
• 1953 Ron Jeremy, American pornographic film actor
• 1956 – Steve Harris, English rock musician
• 1958 – Dileita Mohamed Dileita, Djiboutian politician
• 1959 – Milorad Dodik, Serbian politician
• 1960 – Şenol Korkmaz, Turkish director and producer
• 1962 – Andreas Köpke, German football player
• 1962 – Lütfi Elvan, Turkish politician
• 1963 – Ferdi Eğilmez, Turkish cinema director and producer
• 1967 – Uğur Çavuşoğlu, Turkish actor
• 1968 – Aaron Eckhart, American actor
• 1969 – Beyazıt Öztürk, Turkish comedian
• 1971 – Ogun Sanlisoy, Turkish musician
• 1976 – Gökhan Üçoklar, Turkish basketball player
• 1977 – Abdulhamit Gul, Turkish lawyer and politician
• 1979 – Armand Deumi Tchani, Cameroonian football player
• 1985 – Binnaz Uslu, Turkish athlete
• 1985 – Stromae, Belgian singer
• 1994 – Christina Grimmie, American musician and songwriter (d. 2016)
• 1994 - Jerami Grant, American professional basketball player

Deaths

• 604 – Gregory I, Pope (b. ca. 540)
• 1289 – II. Demetre, Georgian king (b. 1259)
• 1507 - Cesare Borgia, Rönesans Soldier and politician of Italy (b. 1475)
• 1832 – Frederich Kuhlau, German pianist (b. 1786)
• 1845 – Akif Pasha, Ottoman statesman, poet and writer (b. 1787)
• 1853 – Mathieu Orfila, Spanish-born French medical educator (b. 1787)
• 1872 – Zeng Guofan, Chinese statesman and military leader (b. 1811)
• 1898 – Zachris Topelius, Finnish writer (b. 1818)
• 1898 – Johann Jakob Balmer, Swiss mathematician and mathematical physicist (b. 1825)
• 1914 – George Westinghouse, American entrepreneur and engineer (b. 1846)
• 1925 – Arkady Timofeyevich Averchenko, Russian humorist (b. 1881)
• 1925 – Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary leader (b. 1866)
• 1929 – Asa Griggs Candler, developer of the American soft drink manufacturer (Coca-Cola) (b. 1851)
• 1930 – Alois Jirásek, Czech writer (b. 1851)
• 1937 – Charles-Marie Widor, French composer and organist (b. 1844)
• 1942 – Robert Bosch, German industrialist (b. 1861)
• 1942 – William Henry Bragg, English physicist (b. 1862)
• 1943 – Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor (b. 1869)
• 1945 – Antonius Johannes Jurgens, German manufacturer (b. 1867)
• 1954 – Mustafa Sabri Efendi, Ottoman professor and Şeyhülislam (b. 1869)
• 1955 – Charlie Parker, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1920)
• 1955 – Theodor Plievier, German writer (b. 1892)
• 1956 – Bolesław Bierut, Polish statesman (b. 1892)
• 1964 – Abbas al-Akkad, Egyptian journalist, poet, and literary critic (b. 1889)
• 1971 – Eugene Lindsay Opie, American physician and pathologist (b. 1873)
• 1978 – John Cazale, American actor (b. 1935)
• 1985 – Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor (b. 1899)
• 1990 – Philippe Soupault, French writer, poet, and novelist (b. 1897)
• 1997 – Galip Erdem, Turkish journalist and writer (b. 1930)
• 1999 – Yehudi Menuhin, American violinist (b. 1916)
• 2001 – Robert Ludlum, American author (b. 1927)
• 2001 – Sidney Dillon Ripley, American ornithologist and wildlife conservationist (b. 1913)
• 2002 – Jean-Paul Riopelle, Canadian painter (b. 1923)
• 2002 – Spiros Kyprianou, Cypriot politician (b. 1932)
• 2003 – Howard Fast, American author (b. 1914)
• 2003 – Zoran Đinđić, Serbian Prime Minister (assassinated) (b. 1952)
• 2005 – Kemal Türkoğlu, Turkish politician (b. 1911)
• 2006 – Jurij Brezan, German writer (b. 1916)
• 2007 – Önder Baysoy, Turkish businessman and politician (Karşıyaka Former President of Sports Club) (b. 1946)
• 2011 – Nilla Pizzi, Italian singer (b. 1919)
• 2013 – Dinçer Çekmez, Turkish actor (b. 1940)
• 2015 – Erol Büyükburç, Turkish pop music artist (b. 1936)
• 2015 – Terry Pratchett, British fantasy comedy writer (b. 1948)
• 2020 – Tonie Marshall, American and French actor, screenwriter, and film director (b. 1951)

Holidays and special occasions

• Acceptance of the National Anthem and Mehmet Akif Ersoy Memorial Day
• Storm of Hostility
• Withdrawal of Russian and Armenian troops from Erzurum (1918)
• Withdrawal of Georgian troops from Arhavi district of Artvin (1921)