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Turkish speaker backs bid to try 1980 coup chiefs
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Turkey's Parliament speaker said on Monday he favored changes in the Constitution to allow leaders of a 1980 military coup to be put on trial. Koksal Toptan's comments, the latest by a Turkish politician backing a trial of past army plotters, underscore the waning influence of Turkey's generals in the EU candidate nation.Last week, members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the main opposition CHP Party, which traditionally sides with the military, held talks to discuss reforming an article in the constitution that bans prosecuting leaders of the coup. "Such an article should not be in the Constitution and it is beneficial to remove it," Koksal told reporters. "It does not belong in a modern constitution." Such talk would have been unthinkable a few years ago in Turkey where the military has ousted four governments in the past 50 years and regards itself as the ultimate guardian of the republic. But reforms aimed at meeting EU membership criteria have clipped the wings of the military. Legislation passed early on Saturday allows civilian courts to try members of the army accused of threats to national security, constitutional violations and attempts to topple the government. Posted by: Fred 2009-06-30 |
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