Ex-deputies demand ‘to join’ Feb 28 case

ANKARA

Merve Kavakçı and some members of the now-defunct Welfare (Refah) Party have petitioned to ‘join’ a case known as the ‘Feb. 28 process.’

Merve Kavakçı and some members of the now-defunct Welfare (Refah) Party have petitioned to “join” a case regarding a harsh army-led campaign that forced the resignation of Turkey’s then-government in June 1997 – an event known as the “Feb. 28 process.”

Kavakçı, a former deputy who was elected in 1999 but barred from participating in the parliamentary sessions after she refused to remove her headscarf, petitioned Ankara’s 13th Criminal Court to demand those released from custody, as part of the Feb. 28 investigation, be re-arrested, Anadolu Agency reported Aug. 16.

The agency, however, did not specify whether it meant to say Kavakçı wanted to participate in the case as a “victim” or “co-plaintiff,” only using the word “joining.”

In the petition, she argued that the defendants in custody had been unlawfully released, despite the fact that the hearings of the court would take place soon; plaintiffs and victims have not been heard; and demands for complainants and participation and evidence have not been sought.

The Feb. 28 process refers to the infamous “post-modern coup” as a military intervention forced late ex-prime
minister Necmettin Erbakan to resign, after a meeting on Feb. 28, 1997 of the National Security Council (MGK).

In addition to Kavakçı, former minister Teoman Rıza Güneri and former deputies of the Welfare Party – Kazım Arslan, Şeref Malkoç, Cafer Güneş and Mehmet Bekaroğlu – demanded to “join” the case in the trials.

In early June, Ankara’s 13th Criminal Court accepted an indictment based on an investigation into the Feb. 28 process.

The prosecutor asked for the trial of those 103 suspects on charges of “attempting to annul the government of the Republic of Turkey; or attempting to partially or entirely block the government from performing its duties.”