Many say the trial is a historic turning point for Turkey, and the country should take the necessary lessons from it and get rid of its current constitution, which is the product of this coup.
“The Sept. 12 trial is a turning point for Turkey. Coup perpetrators are for the first time being tried,” says Zaman’s Mustafa Ünal, who thinks the trial is very exciting and a giant step for a country that used to treat coup perpetrators with great respect. He complains that some, who until yesterday used to say that a Sept. 12 trial would be impossible, are now trying to downplay the trial, saying that nothing will come out of it. According to Ünal, the question of how deep the trial will go is undoubtedly very important because all the sins of Sept. 12 coup were not committed only by the two surviving leaders, but there are many others who took part in this crime such as the torturers and provocateurs who set Çorum and Maraş on fire. “Will not an accounting be demanded for what happened in Mamak and Diyarbakır?” he asks.
Ünal says the most important benefit of the Sept. 12 trial should be the new constitution as Turkey’s current constitution is the product of this era and even though some amendments have been made, it still retains the spirit of the coup period.
April 4, 2012, when the Sept.12 coup trial began, is a day when Turkey made a new beginning in its history, says Bugün’s Nuh Gönültaş, who thinks the Sept. 12 trial has been made possible thanks to the trial of Ergenekon, a shadowy criminal network which has alleged links within the state and is suspected of plotting to topple the government, along with trials for other coup attempts. “Turkey is slowly gaining its independence. From now on, Turkey will be rising. The most important remaining issue for Turkey is to resolve the problems caused by coups in a humanitarian way,” says Gönültaş.
Milliyet’s Fikret Bila thinks the important thing for the Sept. 12 trial is for Turkey to take the necessary lesson from what took place in the years the country was ruled by the junta. “In order to be able to take this lesson, all the shadowy incidents before and after the Sept. 12 coup need to be uncovered,” says Bila.
