Turkey's ‘post-modern’ Feb 28 coup case set to start

ISTANBUL - Anadolu Agency

Gen İsmail Hakkı Karadayı is one of the top suspects. DAILY NEWS photo

Hearings over the Feb. 28 process, dubbed the post-modern coup, will begin in Ankara’s 13th Criminal Court today, with suspects facing charges related to forcing Turkey’s government from power in 1997.

The hearing will take place in the morning hours of the day where 103 suspects will be asked to defend themselves on accusations of “overthrowing the Turkish government by force.”

All exchanges that occur during the hearing will be recorded to be handed to all sides in the following days.

The suspects of the case include former generals, including Çevik Bir, Erdal Ceylanoğlu and Çetin Doğan, as well as Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy Engin Alan and former head of Higher Education Board (YÖK) Kemal Gürüz.

Former Chief of General Staff retired Gen. İsmail Hakkı Karadayı is also a top suspect in the case, but had been released on conditions of trial without arrest.

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).

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.