AKP urges ‘apology law’ for coup victims

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

A senior Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmaker has said that judicial investigations into Turkey’s military coups will not suffice to heal the wounds the coups caused, and proposed an “apology law” to compensate for the suffering of those victimized by coups since 1960.

Ahmet İyimaya, the head of Parliament’s Justice Commission, said he supports the latest probe, targeting the so-called “post-modern coup” of 1997, but stressed that the prosecution of those responsible for military interventions should be supplemented with “legislative rehabilitation” for the victims. “The legislature has a very important job to do. We need legislation to compensate for the damage that [military interventions] have caused since 1960. The rights of the victims should be restored, and Parliament should first pass an apology law,” İyimaya told Anatolia news agency.

“The apology law should have two main points. First, it’s very important for the state itself and one of its primary organs, the Parliament, to condemn the coups. Secondly, an apology should be extended to the individuals and institutions that have been victimized, and an apology document should be given to those who suffered concrete harm,” İyimaya said, adding that Spain and some Latin American countries have taken such legislative measures.

İyimaya said the enquiry commissions Parliament has in place to investigate some of Turkey’s major problems are inadequate, because they do not result in corrective legislative measures. “They only investigate, when they should also say what compensatory law should be enacted in light of the outcome.”