29 years after Sept. 12, Turkey still mired in post-coup atmosphere

Turkey has not changed the 1982 Constitution created by the instigators of the Sept. 12 coup, with many thinkers and writers and in particular the Republican People's Party (CHP) insisting that no new constitution is necessary. These circles even accuse those who move to amend it with threatening the fundamentals of Turkey's governmental regime; they also do not want those responsible for the Sept. 12 takeover to be brought to justice.

The Sept. 12, 1980 military coup stands out from the rest -- the coups d'état of May 27, 1960, March 12, 1971, Feb. 28, 1997 and April 27, 2007 -- for being the most detailed in its planning on the part of the TSK.

The coups and military memorandums that came before Sept. 12 are remembered as junta attempts by groups of soldiers, while Sept. 12 took place with the approval of all military commanders and was the most well planned and organized.

After the Sept. 12 coup, the 1961 Constitution was eliminated, prepared after the May 27, 1960 military coup, and the coup ushered in a new period for Turkish politics. Some experts say the post-coup period where the military was in control lasted for nine years, and some say seven. The CHP, ostensibly a staunch defendant of the republic, which today stands opposed to replacing the Constitution written by the coup-stagers, was among the political parties that were shut down during this period and whose leaders were detained. In this period, 517 people were sentenced to be executed.

A heavy toll

According to calculations by impartial experts, a total of 650,000 people were detained during the Sept. 12 coup, and files for 1,683,000 people were recorded at police stations. A total of 230,000 people were tried in 210,000 cases, mostly for political reasons. Five-hundred-seventeen people were sentenced to capital punishment, while 7,000 people faced charges that carried a sentence of capital punishment. Fifty of those who received the death penalty were executed. As a result of the unsanitary conditions and torture in prisons, 299 people lost their lives. A total of 144 people died in crimes where the perpetrators could not be found, while 14 people died in hunger strikes, 16 were shot to death because they were supposedly trying to escape from prison and 43 people committed suicide.

A coalition known as "70 Million Steps Against Coups" staged various demonstrations against military coups and in a show of support for steps taken toward stronger democracy.

While 98,404 people were tried for being members of organizations, 388,000 people were not given passports. Some 30,000 people were fired from their jobs because said people were supposedly dangerous. Some 14,000 people were stripped of their citizenship. Some 30,000 people fled the country as refugees, and 300 people died in suspicious ways. It was determined that 171 people died because of torture, while 937 movies were banned after being found objectionable. Approximately 23,677 activities were halted, while 3,854 teachers, 120 university instructors and 47 judges were fired from their jobs. There was a total of 4,000 years of jail time requested for 400 journalists, and 31 journalists completed their jail sentence. Some 300 journalists were physically assaulted, and three journalists were killed. Newspapers didn't publish issues for 300 days. A total of 37 tons of newspapers and magazines were destroyed.

A tremor in Turkey's order

The first people to be executed following the coup were nationalist student Mustafa Pehlivanoğlu and leftist student Necdet Adalı. Despite the fact that a young man by the name of Erdal Eren's death sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeals, it was approved by the National Security Council. Regarding the executions, President Kenan Evren said, “Should we feed them instead of hanging them?” The Higher Education Board (YÖK) fired 38 professors, 25 associate professors and 10 assistant professors from their jobs following the Sept. 12 coup. Including the faculty that resigned, a total of 20,000 faculty members no longer had jobs. Oddly enough, many famous academics that were fired from their jobs objected to changing the Sept. 12 Constitution.

Noting that this paradox is one of Turkey's biggest shames, the Democratic Society Party (DTP) Muş deputy Sırrı Sakık shared his assessment on the Sept. 12 coup with Today's Zaman. 

“Sept. 12 is a straightjacket put on Turkish society. It is a period of major torture. Although 29 years have passed since it happened, we still can't clean up its traces and remnants because there are still people among us that suffer from the trauma it caused. It is the reason for the problems that exist in Turkey today. A nation that does not face its past cannot build a future. We cannot even change the Constitution drafted under military rule. Under these circumstances, we cannot blame the Sept. 12 coup plotters. Not being able to change a coup Constitution is the fault of every politician,” Sakık said. 

The events that led to the Sept. 12 coup were planned so well that years after the coup was staged it was uncovered that pre-coup clashes on the streets and the massacres in Çorum, Kahramanmaraş and Sivas were carefully organized to justify the coup. Until the morning of the coup in 1980, 2,000 people had been killed in clashes between leftists and rightists. The entire Directorate of Security Affairs was placed under the jurisdiction of the Gendarmerie General Command.

Speaking to Today's Zaman then Prime Ministry Undersecretary Hasan Celal Güzel, who was one of the people that informed then Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel about the Sept. 12 coup beforehand, said: “I had learned about the coup in advance and informed the prime minister, but he had already taken his hat and gone. No where in the world is there an example of one right thing that coup plotters have done. The worst civilian administration is better than a military administration. Turkey still can't free itself from its defective Sept. 12 democracy mentality. We are children of the coup, but at the start of the 21st century, a remedy has still not be found to ensure that future generations will not experience the same disgrace and that Turkey will not enter the vortex of new coups.”

Evren and his followers made sure that a commission chaired by Orhan Aldıkaçtı drafted the 1982 Constitution and further ensured that it was approved in a referendum. They further inserted special provisions into Provisional Article 15 of the Constitution, which would give immunity to them against litigation. Although years have passed, this article cannot be amended. Even, then Adana Prosecutor Sacit Kayasu, who indicted the coup generals of Sept. 12, was debarred by the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK). Turkey cannot even change the composition of a board that made such decisions. Many parties, particularly the CHP, raise objections to the bill drafted by the government.

Haluk Özdalga, a deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the head of the parliamentary Environment Commission, noted that the country is still unable to ward off the traces of Sept. 12.

“Although 29 years have passed since the military coup of Sept. 12, we have been unable to eliminate its traces. Moreover, we still cannot assert that there will not be another coup or other disgraceful practices in future in this country. Unfortunately, some people still act as advocates of the shameful mentality of Sept. 12. They still voice crazy demands that would continue to spill blood. Unfortunately, these ideas can be uttered by journalists, intellectuals, military officers and bureaucrats. These people can gather together to promote these ideas. But, I believe that thanks to the common sense of this nation, these pro-coup people, bureaucrats and military officers are the last remnants of that mentality,” he said.