Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

ANKARA: Sep 12 coup harshly condemned by many on 28th anniversary

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • ANKARA: Sep 12 coup harshly condemned by many on 28th anniversary

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    Sept 13 2008


    Sept. 12 coup harshly condemned by many on its 28th anniversary


    On the anniversary of the military intervention staged by the Turkish
    Armed Forces (TSK) on Sept. 12, 1980, nongovernmental organizations
    and civil society groups came together to protest military involvement
    in politics and condemn the human rights violations of the provisional
    military regime ushered in by the coup.

    Some groups staged a mock trial, `prosecuting' the generals who led
    the overthrow of the civilian government, while others gathered in
    front of radio stations early in the morning to protest the military's
    first move in the coup.

    The coalition `70 Million Steps Against Coups,' a platform bringing
    together many civil society groups, held a `Conscience Tribunal'
    yesterday in which it symbolically tried the Sept. 12 coup generals,
    including the coup's leader, Gen. Kenan Evren, at the mock courtroom
    of Ä°stanbul's Bilgi University.

    The symbolic trial, which was followed by a large audience, started
    with opening remarks delivered by Fethiye Ã?etin, a lawyer for
    the family of slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was
    allegedly threatened by retired Gen. Veli Küçük,
    a key Ergenekon suspect, shortly before he was shot dead in January of
    last year by an ultranationalist teenager. The focus of Ã?etin's
    speech was that the legacy of Sept. 12 still lives on today in various
    forms. She cited the Dink murder and the Ergenekon gang, a shadowy
    network with links to the state hierarchy allegedly accused of working
    to overthrow the government, as representatives of the mindset that
    was established by the Sept. 12 coup.

    "Sept. 12 lives on because its perpetrators have not been tried and we
    cannot confront our past," Ã?etin said, adding that the coup 12
    created enmity toward differences within society -- such as different
    ideologies and ethnicities.

    Then the hearing proceeded with the announcement of two separate
    indictments. In the first indictment, a brief story of the Sept. 12
    coup was told, while the second indictment focused more on the results
    of the coup. At the end of both indictments, the reasons why coup
    perpetrators must be tried were listed. "They -- the coup perpetrators
    -- must be tried because they blocked the way to social developments,
    triggered social fears and created hatred toward different groups,"
    the indictment read.

    Then the eyewitnesses addressed the audience. One of the eyewitnesses,
    famous Turkish author Adalet AÄ?aoÄ?lu, said Turkey is
    still discussing Kemalism and how things would be if Mustafa Kemal
    Atatürk was still alive instead of advancing in the sciences.

    Salih Sezgin, another eyewitness, amused the audience with his eastern
    Turkish accent, saying: "One day I woke up to the coup; I was not
    actually aware of what 'coup' meant. My grandma was saying, 'If
    soldiers come, it will be bad.' Then I experienced it." He said he was
    17 years old when he was put in jail in Diyarbakır. He
    explained that he was thrown naked into small cells with other
    people. "We were tortured just because we were Kurds," he added.

    After the speeches from the eyewitnesses, the "court" took a break,
    following which they declared their decisions on the defendants in the
    Conscience Tribunal.

    Meanwhile, at the entrance of the courtroom, there was an exhibition
    of the paintings of Evren, who is living out his retirement years
    quietly in the holiday resort town of Marmaris, where he has taken up
    painting as a hobby. The exhibition displayed numerous paintings and
    photos about the 1980 coup, aiming to emphasize the violence of the
    coup years in an ironic way by referring to the hobby of the general.

    The Young Civilians, a pro-democracy group, gathered in protest in
    front of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT)
    headquarters in Ankara at 3:59 a.m. The location has symbolic
    significance as the army first raided the TRT building and seized the
    broadcasting station to prevent the government from using TV to rally
    mass support against the military leaders. The Young Civilians chanted
    slogans such as "We want new constitution" and "We want democratic
    freedoms." The Constitution of Turkey was adopted in 1982 under the
    military regime and is frequently criticized by democratic groups as
    incompatible with universal values.

    The Young Civilians stressed that they were demonstrating not just to
    condemn the coup that happened 28 years ago but also to protest the
    ongoing military intervention in the Turkish democratic system. Turgay
    OÄ?ur, speaking on behalf of the protestors, said, "Soldiers
    raided this station in the middle of night when everybody was
    asleep. Thousands of people were taken to prison from their homes to
    face torture and abuse," adding: "The soldiers who did this were paid
    by taxpayer's money, our money. Democrats in this country need to be
    as courageous as these soldiers; otherwise Turkey will never be in
    peace."

    In the meantime, a group of protestors calling themselves the Platform
    Against Military Coups -- made up of several union and party
    representatives -- marched in protest in Ankara and left a black
    wreath in front of the US Embassy. It has been claimed that the US
    administration gave its approval and even encouraged military
    intervention in 1980. The group claimed the US has always supported
    military interventions in Turkey. The leftist group chanted slogans
    such as "Damn America" and "Yankee go home." Police prevented the
    group from approaching the embassy and cordoned off the roads.

    13 September 2008, Saturday
    ESRA MADEN Ä°STANBUL
Working...
X