Coup leaders banned from traveling abroad

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

Kenan Evren. DHA photo

Two leaders of the 1980 military coup have been banned from traveling abroad and will stand trial on coup charges on April 4.

An Ankara court announced yesterday that Gen. Kenan Evren, the Chief of Staff during the Sept. 12, 1980 coup who was later elected president and Gen. Tahsin Şahinkaya, the Air Forces Commander at the time, will not be able to leave the country until the first hearing of their trial on charges of “attempting to dissolve the Parliament of the Turkish Republic through use of force,” and “attempting to overthrow the government through use of force.”

The first hearing will be held on April 4, and the following hearing will be held on April 5 and continue to April 6 if needed, the 12th Court of Serious Crimes said.

The same court accepted earlier this month an indictment, asking for double life sentences for Evren and Şahinkaya on the charges cited.

Şahinkaya, 86, and Evren, 94, are the only surviving members of Evren’s five-man junta that seized power in 1980. The National Security Board (MGK), which was formed after the coup and brought together the top commanders, ruled the country under martial law until the general elections in 1983.

During the 1980 coup period, 650,000 people were taken into custody and 230,000 were put on trial.

Military prosecutors demanded capital punishment for 7,000 people; 517 of them received the death penalty and 50 were hanged. Military rulers revoked the citizenship of more than 14,000 Turks while another 30,000 left the country to seek refuge abroad. 

Some 299 prison inmates also died of “undetermined” reasons while another 14 died in hunger strikes. Torture by security forces reportedly claimed another 171 lives.