Kenan Evren, born in Manisa , Turkey in 1918, was a Turkish general who led the coup d'etat against the elected civilian government on September 12, 1980. With the coup, the National Security Council (MGK), which was composed of Kenan Evren, the Chief of the General Staff, and the Force Commanders, dissolved the Parliament and the Government. According a widely believed story in Turkey, he and his team of Force Commanders were named "our boys" in the CIA headquarters after the coup.

After the coup, in 1982, he became President of Turkey on November 7 with the approval of the new constitution that was submitted to a public referendum. He is considered to have ruled the country with an iron fist until 1989. He seemed to have great admiration for the founder of Turkey, Kemal Atatürk, but he shut down all institutions founded by Atatürk and deformed the country's legal system against Atatürk's principles. During his military regime, many people were executed because of their political ideas, including a 17 year old boy named Erdal Eren . Kenan Evren is remembered for his comment on these executions: "Shall we feed them rather than executing?"

His reputation as both a military man and a leader due to the many verbal gaffes he made. This has put him on a list with George W. Bush and Dan Quayle in the history of rulers. However, many Turkish people today believe that he should be remembered as being more similar to rulers such as Augusto Pinochet.

After his retirement, he moved to the Turkish Mediterranean resort town of Marmaris and took up painting.