TURKEY 12 Sep 2010 Army seized control 30 years ago

The army seized power on 12 Sep 1980 at a point when Turkey appeared on the verge of civil war after years of clashes between left and right wing political groups. During military rule, which ended in 1983, as many as 650,000 people were detained, 230,000 tried, 50 executed and 14,000 stripped of citizenship. A bid for constitutional changes to end the immunity of the coup leaders, proposed in 2009, appears to have been scuttled..

The 1982 Turkish Constitution, drafted under army supervision, effectively prevents the coup leaders from ever being tried in court over their actions. General Kenan Evren, 93, the general behind the coup and the Turkish president between 1892-1989, said in an interview published in Hurriyet in Jul 2009 that he would commit suicide if the proposed constitutional changes were adopted. His remarks came a day after officials from the ruling and main opposition parties met to discuss a possible constitutional amendment that would mean individuals responsible for the coup could be tried.

Turkey will vote on a constitutional reform package on the anniversary of the coup, but the secular Constitutional Court annulled reforms that would have curbed the power of the judiciary and the army. Turkey's highest courts see themselves as guardians of the secular values that were at the core of the political system established by Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. (Written and posted Jul 2010)

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Former Turkish coup leader threatens suicide before standing trial (Hurriyet 26 Jun 2009)
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/11948502.asp