Saturday, 14 January 2012On Tuesday (January 10th), Ankara's 12th High Criminal Court accepted an indictment on the 1980 coup in Turkey, paving the way for a trial for the leaders.
An investigation began after hundreds of criminal complaints were filed against the coup leaders, following a referendum on September 12th 2010. The vote abolished Article 15 of the constitution, which gave immunity to the perpetrators.
The indictment, prepared after the year-long investigation, seeks "aggravated life sentences" for the leaders of the 1980 military coup. Then chief of general staff, and later president, General Kenan Evren and General Tahsin Sahinkaya are the two surviving leaders.
During the military junta, almost 650,000 people were detained, while 210,000 people were tried, mostly for political reasons. More than 500 people received the death penalty, and 50 of them were executed. Inhumane living conditions and torture in the prisons led to the death of 299 people. More than 30,000 people had to flee from the country as political refugees.
The indictment was lauded as a symbol questioning the military's authority and consolidating Turkey's democratic development.
Young Civilians, a pro-democracy platform, filed a criminal complaint against Evren and the then-force commanders. "We established the Committee of Monitoring Those Who Protect Kenan Evren and became a follower in this process," group member Fatih Demirci told SES Türkiye.
"The … indictment means that we don't want to experience the same pain, that we want to face those days," he said.
However, some are concerned that the imprisonment of only two soldiers will not be enough to spark a major change.
"The 1980 coup didn't occur in a vacuum," Institute for Security and Development Policy's Turkey Initiative Senior Fellow Gareth Jenkins told SES Türkiye. "Singling out only two elderly ex-soldiers looks more like vindictiveness than justice."
According to Jenkins, any finger-pointing for crimes committed during this period should follow a comprehensive investigation and include the prosecution of all guilty parties -- whether military or civilian, leftist or rightist.
Bogazici University political scientist Koray Caliskan says that although this is a crucial development for the institutionalization of democracy in Turkey, the government still draws on the constitution to curb the opposition in the country.
"For the sake of democratic consistency, the government should release all political prisoners and work with the larger society to bring together a democratic constitution," he told SES Turkiye.
According to the German Marshall Fund's Joshua Walker, this indictment involving the arrests of the coup leaders is a further sign of Turkey's progress.
"The evolution of civil-military relations was not fought by a civilian coup on the military, but by slow progress and frustrated plans," Walker told SES Türkiye.
"With the constitutional referendum that passed last year, many thought nothing would happen. Given the age of the conspirators, the idea that justice would be served was almost forgotten," he said.
But the question remains how Turkey can handle other dark periods of its past – helping to carrying out justice, but avoiding politicisation.
"There is a pendulum in Turkish politics to go from one extreme to another," says Walker, adding that there is a need to find a middle ground. |
Saturday, 14 January 2012
SETimes
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