Documents on coups sent to prosecutors
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
Coups Inquiry Commission head Nimet Baş speaks to reporters in Ankara. AA photo
The requested documents concerning the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup and the Feb. 28, 1997 army-led campaign that led to the resignation of the government at the time have been sent to prosecutors investigating the issues, Parliament’s Coups and Military Memorandums Inquiry Commission head Nimet Baş said on Nov. 30.The commission recently finalized its report - which analyzed the 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1997 coups and made a number of suggestions to prevent future military coups – and has submitted it to Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek. Baş both prosecutor offices investigating the Sept. 12 and Feb. 28 incidents has asked for various documents.
In response to a question regarding whether there had been any official complaints within the report about those held responsible in regards to the coups, Baş said this was not a duty of the Commission.
“After the report is released, it is the prosecution office that will determine responsibility. The prosecution of some crimes is not up for complaint. Prosecutors are able to prosecute it on their own account. With regard to serious crimes such as coups and aiding coups, they can take initiatives after assessing the Commission’s work,” Baş said.
She continued that she believed the notion of “state secrets” had been misused and that political assassinations such as the ones that killed Uğur Mumcu and Muammer Aksoy in the early 1990s should be resolved, calling Uğur Mumcu’s assassination “a very important murder.” Investigations concerning these assassinations had previously been foiled, she said.
