Eight suspects released in Turkey’s ‘post-modern’ Feb 28 coup case

ISTANBUL

The trial, whose top suspect is former Chief of General Staff retired Gen. İsmail Hakkı Karadayı, started on Sept. 2. DHA photo

Eight of 28 arrested suspects were released by an Ankara court Oct. 1 in the ongoing Feb. 28 process case, dubbed the “post-modern coup.”

The released figures included top suspects such as retired former Gendarmerie Cmdr. Gen. Fevzi Türkeri, former Naval Forces Cmdr. Gen. Hayri Bülent Alpkaya and the former board chairman of the army pension (OYAK), Yıldırım Türker. 

Yücel Özsır, Oğuz Kalelioğlu, Metin Yaşar Yükselen and İsmail Yüksel Sümer were also released.

The court ruled to continue the detention of the 20 other suspects. 

A total of 103 suspects facing accusations of “overthrowing the Turkish government by force” are giving their testimonies to the court in the trial, which began Sept. 2. 

Nine other suspects, including the former head of the Higher Education Board (YÖK), Kemal Gürüz, and former Air Force Cmdr. Gen. Ahmet Çörekçi, were released on Sept. 5.

The Feb. 28 is looking into the infamous military intervention, often described as a “post-modern coup,” which forced late ex-Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan to resign after a meeting of the National Security Council (MGK) on Feb. 28, 1997.

The fall of the government was not immediate though, and the turmoil lasted many months as the military carried out an overt campaign against the coalition government under Erbakan, the then-leader of the Welfare Party (RP). 

The party was banned following a ruling of the Constitutional Court in 1998. 

In the final indictment sent to the court on May 22, the prosecutors designated former Prime Minister Tansu Çiller and former Interior Minister Meral Akşener as the leading victims in the case.

The then-Chief of General Staff, retired Gen. İsmail Hakkı Karadayı, has been listed as the top suspect by the indictment.