ANKARA - Leftist student Erdal Eren was just 17 when Turkey's military hanged him after seizing power in a 1980 coup.
His cousin Gokhan is now among thousands calling the now silver-haired, 94-year-old coup leader General Kenan Evren to account in a trial this week which many Turks hope will help heal wounds from a history of military takeovers.
cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });
console.log("catid body is "+catID);if(catID==120){document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none";var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.js'; script.setAttribute('pubname','jpostcom'); script.setAttribute('widgetname','0011r00001lcD1i_12258'); document.getElementsByClassName('divAnyClip')[0].appendChild(script);}else if(catID!=69 && catID!=2){ document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none"; var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://static.vidazoo.com/basev/vwpt.js'; script.setAttribute('data-widget-id','60fd6becf6393400049e6535'); document.getElementsByClassName('divVidazoo')[0].appendChild(script); }The days of military intervention are long gone in Turkey. Reforms which Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has pushed through during his decade in power, as part of a bid for EU membership, have sharply reined in the power of NATO's second biggest army.
But Evren's trial adds a poignant twist to the sprawling prosecution of hundreds of people being tried for alleged coup plots against Erdogan's government and will shed fresh light on a time of brutal repression 30 years ago.