Former PM testifies in coup commission

Former PM testifies in coup commission

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency
Former PM testifies in coup commission

AA photo

Tansu Çiller, Turkey's first female prime minister, testified today about the “post-modern coup” of Feb. 28, 1997, to Parliament's coup commission, which is investigating Turkey's former military takeovers.

Commission members went to Çiller's shore-front house in Yeniköy, Istanbul, to hear her testimony.

Çiller was Turkey's prime minister for three years between 1993 and 1996 and was chairman of the True Path Party (DYP) during the Feb. 28 process.

The Feb. 28 process refers to the harsh, army-led campaign that forced Turkey’s first Islamist prime minister, the late Necmettin Erbakan, to resign in June 1997.

The military overthrew a coalition government between Erbakan’s Welfare Party (RP) and the DYP, citing an alleged increase in fundamentalist activities in the country.