Retired colonel and suspect of ‘post-modern coup’ found dead in Bucharest

BUCHAREST – Cihan News Agency

A retired colonel, who was being sought in the trial of the military intervention of Feb. 28, 1997, often described as a “post-modern coup,” has been found dead in Bucharest.

Retired Colonel Eser Şahan was found dead on a bank in the Drumul Taberei neighborhood of the Romanian capital, after he was reported to have left his house for a walk.

The 66-year-old Şahan is alleged to have been living in Romania for the past decade and filed an asylum request to the Romanian state three years ago. His personal gun was found next to his body. Şahan, who was married to a Romanian woman with two children, was being sought in the case of the Feb. 28, 1997, military intervention, during which he was the intelligence chief of the Turkish Naval Forces.

Some 103 defendants, including the then-chief of General Staff, retired Gen. İsmail Hakkı Karadayı, are being tried in the case as suspects in the military intervention that ultimately forced the late leader of the Welfare Party (RP), Necmettin Erbakan, to resign after a meeting of the National Security Council (MGK) on Feb. 28, 1997.