650,000 people were detained after Turkey’s September 12, 1980 coup

After Turkey’s September 12, 1980 coup, 650,000 people were detained and 230,000 people were tried in 210,000 cases. The coup administration closed political parties and trade unions, dissolved the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and carried out the death sentences of 50 people.

The September 12, 1980 coup, prepared under the codename “Operation Flag,” was put into action after approximately four months of secret preparations. The first attempt to implement the plan began when army commanders were ordered to launch the operation on July 11, 1980, but it was postponed after then-Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel won a vote of confidence.

The coup administration began on the morning of September 12 with a statement read on the radio by Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren. The National Security Council, consisting of Evren, Land Forces Commander General Nurettin Ersin, Air Forces Commander General Tahsin Şahinkaya, Naval Forces Commander Admiral Nejat Tümer and Gendarmerie General Commander General Sedat Celasun, assumed all authority in the country.

The political and social structure was reshaped

The coup administration suspended the activities of trade unions and professional organizations, repealed the Constitution and dissolved the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. After martial law was declared, all associations except the Turkish Aeronautical Association, the Child Protection Agency and the Turkish Red Crescent were closed.

The activities of political parties were also suspended. Süleyman Demirel and Bülent Ecevit were sent to Hamzakoy, while Necmettin Erbakan and Alparslan Türkeş were sent to Uzunada, and political bans were imposed on them.

Death sentences and detentions

The courts established after the coup issued death sentences against hundreds of people. Necdet Adalı, who held left-wing views, and Mustafa Pehlivanoğlu, a member of the ülkücü movement, were executed on October 9, 1980.

A death sentence was also issued against 17-year-old Erdal Eren, who had been convicted of killing a military police private before the coup. Although the Court of Cassation annulled Eren’s sentence twice, the sentence was carried out at Ankara’s Ulucanlar Prison on December 13, 1980, after his age was increased. Kenan Evren’s remark about Eren, “Should we not hang him and feed him instead?” became one of the period’s symbolic expressions.

During the coup period, 650,000 people were detained, 230,000 people were tried in 210,000 cases and prosecutors sought the death penalty for more than 7,000 people. A total of 517 people were sentenced to death, while the death sentences of 50 people were carried out.

Prosecutors sought prison sentences totaling thousands of years for dozens of journalists. Fourteen thousand people were stripped of their Turkish citizenship, while 30,000 people were dismissed from their jobs on the grounds that they were “undesirable.” Approximately 4,000 teachers, along with numerous university staff members, were dismissed. In the field of culture and the arts, approximately 1,000 films were also banned on the grounds that they were considered undesirable.

The prosecution of the coup leaders

The Constitution prepared by the consultative assembly appointed by the coup generals was approved in a 1982 referendum with 92 percent of the vote in favor. Provisional Article 15, added to the Constitution, granted Evren and the other coup leaders lifelong immunity.

This immunity was lifted by the referendum held on September 12, 2010. Following the referendum, criminal complaints were filed against the coup leaders and those who carried out their orders. The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into Kenan Evren and Tahsin Şahinkaya, the surviving members of the National Security Council from that period.

In the indictment accepted on January 10, 2012, the Ankara 12th High Criminal Court accused Evren and Şahinkaya of attempting to abolish the Constitution and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The two defendants, who did not attend the hearings for health reasons, denied the accusations in their defenses delivered by video conference and described themselves as the “constituent power.”

After the Ankara 12th High Criminal Court was closed by law, the case file was transferred to the Ankara 10th High Criminal Court. On June 18, 2014, the court sentenced Evren and Şahinkaya to aggravated life imprisonment over the 1979 memorandum and the 1980 coup. The sentences were reduced to life imprisonment after discretionary mitigation was applied, and the court ruled that the ranks of the two defendants should be revoked.

The case was dismissed after the defendants’ deaths

After the judgment was appealed, Kenan Evren died at the age of 98 on May 9, 2015, and Tahsin Şahinkaya died at the age of 90 on July 9, 2015. The 16th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation ruled that the case should be dismissed because of the defendants’ deaths.

After reviewing the case file again following the reversal rulings, the trial court ruled that the public case against Evren and Şahinkaya should be dismissed. The court also ruled that there were no grounds to confiscate the defendants’ assets or revoke their ranks.

The 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation upheld the rulings dismissing the case against Kenan Evren and Tahsin Şahinkaya because of their deaths. The rulings not to confiscate the defendants’ assets or revoke their ranks by expelling them from the Turkish Armed Forces were also upheld.