Turkey's speaker favors article amendment to try 1980 coup leaders
Güncelleme Tarihi:
ISTANBUL - Turkey's parliament speaker said Monday he favored changes in the Constitution that will pave the way to bring the leaders of the military coup in 1980 before the courts.
Officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, will discuss at the its Central Executive Board meeting late on Monday a proposal put forward by the main opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP, last week for a constitutional amendment that would allow the perpetrators of the military Sept. 12, 1980 coup to stand trial.Â
"Such an article should not be in the Constitution and it is beneficial to remove it," Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan told reporters.
"It does not belong in a modern Constitution," he added.
Article 15 of the Turkish Constitution, which was drafted in 1982 under the eye of the army, effectively prevents the coup leaders from ever being tried in court over their actions.
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The Turkish army took over power in the country after clashes between left and right wing political groups in the 1970s had brought the nation to the brink of civil war.
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During the three years of military rule that ended in 1983, around 650,000 people were detained, 230,000 people trialed, 50 executed, and 14,000 stripped of their Turkish citizenship.