Coup leaders’ financial acts found ‘extraordinary’

ISTANBUL

Kenan Evren, the leader of the 1980 military junta, has been on trial for the coup and faces a possible life sentence. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Two living members of the military junta that staged the infamous Sept. 12, 1980 coup posses extraordinary amounts of properties and have conducted strange money transfers within their financial accounts, an official state report unveiled on Sep 17.

Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board’s (MASAK) report which was issued within the ongoing coup case investigation revealed that Kenan Evren and Tahsin Şahinkaya’s property holdings were “extraordinary.”

Evren and Şahinkaya have stock certificates in more than 20 accounts in different banks and real estate properties worth millions of Turkish Lira, according to the report.

The bank accounts which are currently active have been used to recently transfer 400,000, 600,000 and 800,000 liras, the report said.

MASAK’s detailed report also showed that personal financial records have been hidden between 1980 when the coup was staged and 2001. Out of 20 banks who were asked why there was a lack of records, 19 reportedly said the records were erased due to statute of limitation.

Evren and Şahinkaya own many houses in the coastal regions of Turkey. Evren has three houses in Bodrum alone. Şahinkaya is believed to own five houses in Izmir’s Özdemir district.

Evren’s late wife Sekine Evren and their daughters Nebayat Şenay Gürvit, Semahat Gülay Evren, Miray Emine Göksü’s accounts have also been investigated.

The financial accounts of Şahinkaya’s wife Sema Şahinkaya and their children Sevgi Kartal and Serdar Şahinkaya were also taken under supervision.

Court decision

Evren, 95, Chief of General Staff during the coup and President until 1989 and Şahinkaya, 84, are the only two surviving members of the five-man junta that lead the coup. They are both currently being tried under a historic trial against the last remaining leaders of the 1980 coup.

A local court in Ankara recently ruled that Kenan Evren and Tahsin Şahinkaya, two living members of the military junta that staged the infamous Sept. 12, 1980 coup are are currently under investigation, shall give their testimony via an audio and visual conference system. A delegated judge will witness their testimonies at a hospital. The next trial will take place Nov. 20.

The ruling by Ankara’s 12th Heavy Penal Court at the sixth hearing of the Sept. 12, 1980 coup case came in response to a demand by the prosecutor that a medical report indicated that Evren and Şahinkaya were unable to attend court hearings due to critical health conditions.