Just like any other system of oppression, Turkiye's imperial pashas too could not do any of these crimes by themselves alone. Their willing executioners are equally guilty too. Where are they? Why is the justice not going after them all?
rick murphy
Turkiye's imperial pashas, who planned and carried out all of these
horrible and hateful crimes, have their willing executioners for sure.
Just like any other system of oppression, Turkiye's imperial pashas
too could not do any of these crimes by themselves alone. Their
willing executioners are equally guilty too. Where are they? Why is
the justice not going after them all?
TV series puts spotlight on hidden sufferings of Sept. 12 coup
(picture)
A television series featuring sufferings the Sept. 12, 1980 coup
caused individuals, “Bu Kalp Seni Unutur Mu?” has already become
popular among the Turkish public.
A new but already popular Turkish TV series called “Bu Kalp Seni
Unutur Mu?” (Will this heart forget you?) questions the wrong and
harmful policies of the military regime in the wake of Turkey’s most
notorious and bloody coup on Sept. 12, 1980.
The series not only mentions the conditions that led to the military’s
interference in politics but also offers a courageous display of the
sufferings the coup caused individuals. For most observers, the series
is one of few TV productions that shed light on a mostly hidden face
of Turkey.
“The aim of the series is to display all aspects of the Sept. 12 coup
in an objective and fair manner. I believe this is an impressive
project. In order to understand the problems we are facing today, we
should know what this country experienced in its recent past. This
series is a good opportunity for youth, who did not witness the coup
period, to learn about our past,” stated political analyst Mümtaz’er
Türköne, who contributes to the scenarios of the TV series.
The Sept. 12, 1980 military coup took place with the approval of all
military commanders and was the most well-planned and organized one in
Turkey’s history. After Sept. 12, the 1961 Constitution was
eliminated, and the coup ushered in a new period for Turkish politics.
The coup was a source of great suffering for the citizens as a total
of 650,000 people were detained during this period. Files for
1,683,000 people were recorded at police stations. A total of 230,000
people were tried in 210,000 cases, mostly for political reasons. Five-
hundred seventeen people were sentenced to death, while 7,000 people
faced charges that carried a sentence of capital punishment. Fifty of
those who received the death penalty were executed. As a result of the
unsanitary conditions and torture in prisons, 299 people died while
incarcerated. A total of 144 people died in crimes where the
perpetrators could not be found, while 14 died during hunger strikes,
16 were shot to death because they were supposedly trying to escape
from prison and 43 people committed suicide.
While 98,404 people were tried for being members of criminal
organizations, 388,000 people were refused passports. Some 30,000
people were fired from their jobs. Approximately 14,000 people were
stripped of their citizenship, and around 30,000 fled the country as
refugees. It was determined that 171 people died because of torture,
and 937 movies were banned after being found objectionable. More than
3,800 teachers, 120 university instructors and 47 judges were fired
from their jobs. There was a total of 4,000 years of jail time
demanded for 400 journalists, of whom 31 completed their sentences.
Some 300 journalists were physically assaulted, and three journalists
were killed. Newspapers didn’t publish editions for 300 days. Thirty-
seven tons of seized newspapers and magazines were destroyed.
“Bu Kalp Seni Unutur Mu?” goes beyond telling about the process that
swept Turkey and led to a coup and reveals the inhumane conditions
under which individuals were forced to live for many years. It
displays the ill-treatment and torture of suspects in detention
centers and jails.
According to Türköne, however, the torture scenes in the series are
“softened” when compared to the reality.
“In its latest episode, the series mentioned the suffering at
Diyarbakır Prison. It does so respectfully but in a more softened
manner. We preferred to soften the scenes of torture and violence in
order not to intimidate the audience. What the series shows [in terms
of violence] is very soft when compared with the reality,” Türköne
remarked.
Diyarbakır Prison gained infamy after the Sept. 12 coup as 34 people
died there and hundreds were handicapped as a result of ill-treatment
and torture. Twenty of those people were tortured to death, five died
during hunger strikes, five immolated themselves and four of them
hanged themselves in protest of the circumstances.
The ill-treatment in the prison is believed to have played a major
role in the establishment and rapid growth of the Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK), a terrorist group Turkey has been fighting against for
several years. The group demands autonomy for Turkey’s Kurds in the
southeastern part of the country. More than 40,000 people have so far
been killed in clashes between Turkish security forces and PKK
terrorists.
Several other TV series and films were produced in the past to display
the irreparable damage military coups inflicted on people’s lives.
Among these were “Hatırla Sevgili” (Remember, Darling), “Çemberimde
Gül Oya, Eve Dönüş” (Homecoming), “Babam ve Oğlum” (My Father and My
Son) “Zincirbozan” and “Beynelmilel” (The International).
All of those productions took a very different approach in narrating
the stories of regular people whose lives were forever changed by the
coup and the three-year period of military rule that followed. Though
they varied in their scope, genre and subject matter, they all
challenged their viewers to critically consider the coup and reflect
on its aftermath.
Türköne stressed that such TV productions are very important for
showing where a military coup may take a country. “Our people should
see what damage military tutelage does to a country,” he noted, adding
that the timing of the series was a mere coincidence with the recent
developments over a notorious military plot aimed at undermining the
country’s ruling party.
Mehmet Metiner, a Kurdish intellectual and columnist, said the series
serves as a guideline to understand what forced Kurds to go into the
mountains and join the PKK.
“The series illustrates perfectly the appalling cruelty in the
prisons. It tells us how non-Turkish speaking Kurds were forced to
memorize the Turkish National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance. It
shows us how Kurdish parents were denied the right to see their jailed
sons just because they could not speak Turkish. After the coup,
Kurdish identity was denied, and it was prohibited to speak Kurdish
even on the streets. The series shows perfectly how all such factors
accelerated the process of going to the mountains,” he remarked.
Metiner also stated that the series reveals the difference between the
“old” and the “new” Turkey. “It shows us how our democracy has evolved
in less than 30 years. I watch this series with both sadness and
pleasure,” the columnist added.
Series receives high praise from viewers
“Bu Kalp Seni Unutur Mu?” has garnered a large number of viewers and
managed to make it onto a list of most-watched TV series though it has
been on television for only four weeks.
Many commentators on “Ekşi Sözlük” (also referred to as Sour
Dictionary or Sourtimes), a collaborative hypertext online dictionary,
defined the series as a “courageous production revealing the dark
sides of Turkey’s recent past.”
“This is a series coup mongers should absolutely watch. I would like
those who call on the military to ‘rescue’ them without even knowing
what a coup is to watch at least a few episodes of this series,” wrote
a user, dubbed “ufuksyavuz,” on “Ekşi Sözlük.” According to another
user, “elvenz,” the scenes at Diyarbakır Prison were a first in TV
history. “It is frightening to see the torture [of detainees and
prisoners] in every episode and the discourse of soldiers. It is
probably the first time all the realities of our recent past have been
displayed on a nationalist TV station. I am afraid this series will
exasperate some circles and will be canceled. I hope I’m wrong,” wrote
another user, dubbed “miss is cat.”