Turkey to prosecute leaders of 1980 coup

Turkey to prosecute leaders of 1980 coup

2012-01-11 09:45:47 GMT+7 (ICT)

ANKARA (BNO NEWS) -- A Turkish court has accepted indictments against former President Kenan Evren and another retired general for their role in the country's military coup in 1980, local media reported on Tuesday.

A prosecutor has asked for life sentences for Evren, the country's seventh president, and General Tahsin Åžahinkaya. The pair will be put on trial for "attempting to dissolve the Parliament of the Turkish Republic through use of force" and "attempting to overthrow the government through use of force," the Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Evren and Sahinkaya are the only survivors among the five army generals who took power in 1980 after the coup. Evren, who served as president from 1982 to 1989, previously said he would rather commit suicide than go on trial.

Turkey has endured three military coups -- in 1960, 1971 and 1980 -- but the military's political influence has waned since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan took office in 2002.

Last week, a former head of the Turkish armed forces was remanded in custody on charges of heading a terrorist organization plotting to overthrow the government. He is accused of being involved in the Ergenekon network, a nationalist group that allegedly created dozens of websites in an attempt to bring down the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2003.

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