1997 'postmodern coup' case: Retired generals sent behind bars after life sentences
Tanks parading in the capital Ankara on January 30, 1997. (Photo: AA/File)
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Retired generals found guilty of organizing what is known as the "postmodern coup" in 1997 have been sent to prison.
The Court of Cassation on July 9 upheld the life sentences given to 14 defendants. Yesterday (August 18), the Ankara 5th Heavy Penal Court sent the order for their arrest to the prosecutor's office, which issued arrest warrants against them today.
The heavy penal court also sent letters to the Command of General Staff and the Ministry of National Defense demanding the convicted officers be stripped of their ranks as per articles 30 and 31 of the Military Penal Code no. 1632.
Names of the convicted generals: Ahmet Çörekçi, Aydan Erol, Cevat Temel Özkaynak, Çetin Doğan, Çetin Saner, Çevik Bir, Erol Özkasnak, Fevzi Türkeri, Hakkı Kılınç, İdris Koralp, İlhan Kılıç, Kenan Deniz, Vural Avar ve Yıldırım Türker.
The "postmodern coup"
On February 28, 1997, the National Security Council, which consists of senior military and government officials, released an 18-article declaration against what it called "reactionary activities against the secular state" in an ultimatum to the coalition government of the Islamist Welfare Party (RP) and the center-right True Path Party (DYP).
On June 18, RP leader Necmettin Erbakan resigned as the prime minister in accordance with a protocol with his coalition partner, DYP Chair Tansu Çiller. The two leaders had agreed on alternating the prime ministry between themselves until the elections.
However, then-President Süleyman Demirel assigned Mesut Yılmaz, the chair of the Homeland Party (ANAP), instead of Çiller, to form the government.
A new civilian government formed by three parties —the ANAP, the Democratic Left Party (DSP), and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)— succeeded the RP-DYP coalition in a move that became known as the "postmodern coup."
In January 1998, the RP was shut down by the Constitutional Court due to "activities violating the principle of the secular state."
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was the Mayor of İstanbul and a member of the RP at the time. In 2001, he left the Virtue Party (FP), the successor of the RP, to found the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has been in power since 2002.
The trial
An investigation into the 1997 events was opened in 2012. Some 103 people stood trial for "involvement in the forcible overthrow of the Government of the Republic of Turkey."
In April 2018, twenty-one defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment and 68 were acquitted. Charges were dropped against 10 defendants due to the statute of limitations and four defendants because they died.
Having examined the request of appeal, the Court of Cassation upheld the verdict on July 9.
In its ruling, the top appeals court described the events as "making the elected government dysfunctional" by imposing the NSC decisions on it with the support of media outlets, universities, unions, capital groups, civilian bureaucracy and judicial bureaucracy.
(KÖ/VK)