Military Coup Case Begins with Victims' Cry for Justice

In a case that began in Ankara on Wednesday, lawyers of victims who were affected by the military coup in 1980, demanded that the two accused generals tried with "crimes against humanity".

The trial where former Chief of Staff Kenan Evren and general Tahsin Şahinkaya are accused of acting against state authority as defined at articles 146 and 80 of the former Criminal Code. Evren, 94 and Şehinkaya, 84 didn't attend to the first sitting of the case because of declared illnesses. Activists and relatives of the victims gathered in front of the court.

Lawyers said that the crime in question includes more people than the two accused generals and demanded that investigation is enlarged to include those took part in the process.

Human Rights Association (IHD) chair and lawyer Öztürk Türkdoğan said that the crimes committed during the military coup should be defined as "crimes against humanity".

Diyarbakır Bar Association chair Mehmet Emin Aktar added "Those who perpetuated the military coup and the actions that followed -ie the events that took place in Diyarbakır prison- should stand trial, too".

"We understand that the indictment of the prosecution doesn't aim to exercise jurisdiction over the military coup. If you ask the people on the streets about 1980, they will remember the Diyarbakır prison. We're here to voice what happened in Diyarbakır prison. This is why we want to intervene."

Progressive Lawyers' Association (ÇHD) chair Selçuk Kozağaçlı noted that the regime build by the military coup still persists. "We may be able to intervene to this case but on the other hand, we stand trial four days a week on other issues. This case can't go on as it is. The current government is a continuation of 1980. The tortures, executions and crimes committed during the coup should be classified as crimes against humanity. The indictment is weak and flawed. The defendants claim that they can't be tried with the system they themselves build. I agree."

As the court declined their demands, Kozağaçlı announced that they're withdrawing from the case as ÇHD.

The main opposition CHP's -which was banned after the coup- lawyer Şenal Sarihan demanded the court to decline the intervention requests made by the current government.

"The military coup demolished  the right to organize, banned all political parties, tortured their members, destroyed CHP's history. We intervene to this case but this court is not independent. Yet we will argue for a just trial and we will stand witness to the process."

Nationalist BBP's vice chair Remzi Çayır began his words saying "We don't oppose some coups as leftists do, we're against all military interventions".

"We were tortured, too. BBP and the Ülkücü movement are victims. We're here so that there won't be any more coups."

Pro-Kurdish BDP's co-vice-chair lawyer Meral Danış Beştaş said "We don't expext much but this case is important as it is a first."

"Following the 1980 coup, the Kurdish question deepened. This court is a continuation of the state security courts of the coup. We see a continuation of the military coup today.(AS/EÜ)