“Why Can We Not Return Back to Our Country?”

The Left-Wing Exiles' Return from Abroad Initiative Platform established by socialists who could not return back to Turkey due to the verdicts passed by the Martial Law Military Tribunals of the Sept. 12, 1980 coup de tat issued a declaration to demand the removal of the legal hurdles that prevent their return.

"The penalties incurred by the Military Tribunals of the Sept. 12, 1980 [coup] that run counter to the principles of fair trial are deemed as invalid in all legal platforms, and by the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights) in particular, because they fail to comply with international legal norms and are viewed as biased," said the declaration.

Authorities are going to release Haluk Kırcı, who was sentenced to capital punishment multiple times, and other members of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) who are in a similar situation as he because they were not tried within the scope of "organized crimes," the declaration said in reference to the amendment to the Third Judicial Package accepted by Parliament's Justice Commission.

"[Authorities] should either count the decisions of the Sept. 12 Military Tribunals as null and void, or else they should revoke their validity through a de facto solution, such as suspending them or by reducing the time for statute of limitations through this amendment," the declaration said.

"The exiles were a consequence of the Sept. 12 coup, and this process has been underway for over 30 years, but we still cannot return back to our country despite the ruling AKP's (Justice and Development Party) performance act of putting the Sept. 12 coup on trial," said the declaration.

"As socialists and revolutionaries who could not return back to their countries for long years due to the standing arrest orders against [us] and the execution of whose [penalties] were left incomplete due to the verdicts passed by the Sept. 12 Military Tribunals, we demand the removal of the hurdles before our right to return back to the country," concluded the declaration signed by Arslan Gümüş and Nejat Pişmişler. (HK)