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