Erdoğan calls ex-leaders
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan phoned all living former presidents and prime ministers yesterday to exchange Şeker Bayram holiday greetings to but skipped former President Kenan Evren, who staged a military coup in 1980.The surprise move was announced by the Office of the Prime Minister on the second day of the bayram. According to the statement, Erdoğan called former presidents Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Süleyman Demirel and former premiers Yıldırım Akbulut, Tansu Çiller and Mesut Yılmaz to extend his best wishes for the holiday.
Erdoğan skipped Evren, who was elected as the head of the nation in 1982, two years after he staged a coup. Following a constitutional amendment, two living members of the military echelon of that time, Evren and Tahsin Şahinkaya, have begun to be prosecuted for illegally toppling a democratically elected government.
