Libyan Arab Republic
Muammar Gaddafi became the de facto leader of Libya on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of Libyan Army officers against King Idris I in a bloodless coup d'état. When Idris was in Turkey for medical treatment, the Revolutionary Command Council headed by Gaddafi abolished the monarchy and the constitution and established the Libyan Arab Republic, with the Ba'athist motto "Unity, Freedom, Socialism".