Turkey's 1980 coup facts
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News
Hürriyet file photo
The 1980 military coup was launched “to bring peace to a polarized society where thousands of people were being killed on the streets,” according to the coup generals and their supporters.The results, however, were devastating:
- The Turkish Parliament was dissolved, the Constitution was revoked, all political parties were shut down and their assets were seized.
- 650,000 people were taken into custody
- 230,000 people were put on trial
- 1,683,000 people were blacklisted
- Military prosecutors demanded the death penalty for 7,000 people
- 517 people received the death penalty
- 50 people were hanged
- The military rule revoked the citizenships of more than 14,000 people
- 388,000 citizens were denied Turkish passports
- 30,000 people fled Turkey to seek refuge abroad
- 299 inmates died in prisons due to "indeterminate" reasons
- 14 inmates died in hunger strikes
- 171 people died under torture
- 3 journalists were killed
- 4,000 years of prison time was requested for 400 journalists
- 31 journalists were jailed
- Newspapers could not print for 300 days
- 39 tons of newspapers and periodicals were destroyed
- 937 movies were banned from screening
