An agonizing, three-decade wait for justice to be served in Turkey

As people gather Saturday to celebrate Workers’ Day in Istanbul’s Taksim Square for the first time in 32 years, those who survived the deadly events there in 1977 are still waiting for justice to be carried out.

Celalettin Can, the leader of the 78ers Foundation, has called on members and like-minded individuals to help bring to justice those who were responsible for the deaths and injuries experienced May 1, 1977, in Taksim Square.

On that date, around half a million people had gathered in the Taksim area, spilling out of the square itself and onto side streets in every direction. Shots were fired and a stampede ensued; a total of 35 people died and 126 were injured.

Can has asked members of the 78ers Foundation to gather at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday in front of the Şişli Mosque along with members of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, or KESK. They will march with signs and pictures of those who died May 1, 1977.

“We are marching in order to expose the ‘dark forces’ that are the enemy of the nation and humanity – who organized the May 1, 1977, massacre, why and for what political purpose,” Can told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

The 78ers take their name from the year following this tragic event, the last time a May 1 rally was held at Taksim Square before being prohibited. This year is the first time the government has given permission for more than a very limited number of people to hold a May 1 meeting in the square.

Can spoke with the Daily News about the 1977 event and what has transpired in the 33 years since. Referring to others who believe that “dark forces” and members of the police were responsible for the deaths, he alleged that the purpose of the shootings was to create panic and fear – in short, a social and political atmosphere that would provide an excuse for a military coup.

“Army Cmdr. Namık Kemal Ersun wanted such a social and political atmosphere in order to justify [the 1980 coup],” Can said. “As the coup approached, there were labor union strikes in abundance and a series of meetings were being held. One of the best known was held in Konya and was attended by some of the leading industrialists and businessmen in Turkey at the time. Alpaslan Türkeş, who was one of the officers behind the 1960 coup and the legalization of ‘civilian counter-guerrillas,’ also lent his support to the 1980 coup.

“Even though the names of the people who were responsible for the action that day were given to the government, and the prime ministers are supposed to have known, no in-depth investigation has been carried out,” he added. “Even today, people in government know, but do nothing.”

Ever since the time of the Ottomans, Can said, people who want to keep power in their own hands have trampled over others, using every means at their disposal – including the Ottoman practice of the sultan who ascended the throne massacring his brothers so that no one could challenge his claim.

“This became an art that showed itself in Taksim Square in 1977,” he said. “Opening Taksim Square to celebrations is good, but not enough. We’ve been pursuing this as a society for 33 years, facing and coming to terms with the May 1 massacre and those responsible. We want justice.”

1980 coup consequences

Can is from Tunceli, but grew up in Elazığ, where he became the founding president of the Elazığ Revolutionary Culture Association. When he won a place at the Istanbul Political Sciences High School, the metropolis was a place on fire, just like the rest of Turkey. Can was a university student when the Sept. 12, 1980, coup occurred and he went to the mountains of Malatya to join a militant group fighting against the coup. He was caught in February 1981, and then escaped from Elazığ Prison in June 1982, but did not flee abroad because he was against the idea of abandoning his country. He was caught in Istanbul at the beginning of 1983 and then sentenced to death twice in a trial that ended in 1984.

Can was among those pardoned in 1991, but he remained in prison for a time due to penalties he received in other ongoing cases. Aside from a few months when he was on the run, he spent 19 years in prison. As soon as he got out, he started working on the 78ers Foundation project.

Can offers a striking picture of the pain he and others experienced in the aftermath of the 1980 coup, when he says court cases were collectively opened against people by the thousands, regardless of their actual involvement. “These people were considered soldiers, so they could be held under military law and tried in the martial-law courts,” he said. “Detention, which might better be named periods of torture, was extended to 90 days.”

The same people were tried repeatedly for the same alleged crimes, sometimes three or four years after the fact, Can added, and penalties were increased numerous time under various laws.

“Torture began in detention and continued in prison. People were taken from prison and brought to questioning under torture; people who were freed from prisons were not taken to their homes but again to questioning under torture,” he said. “New cases were opened on the basis of the defenses that the accused made at hearings. The lawyers for those being held were on the verge of being arrested. The penalty applied to lawyers detained was that they wouldn’t be able to attend some court sessions.”

“The accused were blocked from attending the most critical hearings. The authority to give instructions to open a case and to appeal it was given to the coup commanders,” Can added. “Those who were near the people being sought were held as hostages.”

Following the 1980 coup, Can said, 650,000 people were taken into custody, 1,683,000 were wiretapped and 210,000 had legal cases opened against them. Of the 7,000 who faced a death sentence, 517 received a death sentence and 50 were executed. A total of 98,404 people were tried on charges of being members of an illegal organization but only 21,764 were sentenced. Some 630,000 people received unjust and illegal punishment and lost their jobs, while 14,000 were stripped of their Turkish citizenship.

Even those who were discharged remained subject to certain restrictions, Can added, saying they could even be characterized as threats; people could be charged under new court cases or cases that had not yet reached a verdict. Author and playwright Eşber Yağmurdereli, for instance, was sentenced to one year in prison for a speech he gave; if he did something else that was deemed a crime, however, he faced as much as 20 years. Cases against some organizations dragged on for 20 years or more without a verdict. Anyone who was involved could not get a passport and could not leave Turkey.

The denial of these people’s civil rights has been an issue of concern to the 78ers Foundation. According to Can, those who were tried after the coup on Sept. 12 and had their civil rights restricted numbered more than 20,000. They were forbidden from establishing or joining any association, labor union, foundation or political party. They couldn’t work for the government and be selected for such work. Can, however, was able to get a passport and campaigned in Europe, gathering signatures to try and end the situation.

The founders of the 78ers group believe Turkey cannot truly democratize without launching an investigation into the Sept. 12 coup and the 1982 Constitution, which received 92 percent of the votes but faced no opposition. According to Can, the military and the government in place at the time saw to it that there was no opposition of any significance.

Though former Supreme Court President Sami Selcuk has said the Constitution cannot be changed because the people voted for it, Can objects to this stance, saying it was not a true vote of the people but a plebiscite, and does not rest on the principles of the people, therefore it is not legitimate. If the coup plotters thought this would be protected by the Law of Nations, Can said, they were wrong: If it were, it wouldn’t have been possible for coup plotters in Argentina to have been tried. He further pointed to interim Article 15 of the Constitution, which banned the prosecution of the 1980 coup leaders, asking why this would have been necessary if the Constitution sufficed to protect them – and why it was designated an interim law?

Over the years, the Constitution has been changed and even today is in the process of being reformed. As a package of constitutional amendments winds its way through Parliament, the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, has inserted an article through which Article 15 would be annulled. But since it did not remove the statue of limitations, it seems unlikely that the coup leaders will ever be prosecuted, as Can and his fellow 78ers would like to see happen.

Over the years, Can has developed something of a cynical attitude. When asked about the assault on Ahmet Türk, the former chairman of the disbanded pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, or DTP, he speculated that it had been meant to provoke an incident in which the Kurds resorted to violent protest – perhaps even the start of a bloody war. But he said he believes the people of Turkey cannot be manipulated by an oligarchy that holds war and peace in its hands.

Noting the manipulations the AKP had allegedly engaged in to win local elections in the eastern part of the country, Can stressed that the ruling party had not been able to defeat the DTP, attributing the victory to new young Kurdish politicians.

Can also called for more serious steps to be taken in order to establish peace and brotherhood. “The government continues to handcuff every attempt at peace and friendship, creating an atmosphere of clashes and lack of reconciliation,” he said. “We insist on peace and friendship. We want to create a climate of peace and brotherhood.”