ANKARA - Poet Ahmet Telli who was exiled from his job as a teacher in September 12, said: "The September 12 fascism is still in our lives and on the streets", while Academic Cenk Yiğiter who was exiled during July 15 Coup attempt stated that the way to get rid of the coup tradition of Turkey is in the peace movement.

 

The September 12, 1980 Military Coup, being one of the darkest periods of Turkey have targeted the increasingly socialized socialist forces, trade unions and a strong Kurdish movement.  The goals and objectives of the coup were implemented by all governments after the coup. The political parties and coalitions that came to the government in the 40 years since September 12 have neither abandoned the Coup Constitution nor their institutions such as the Higher Education Council (YÖK). While the legacy of September 12, torture, maltreatment and violations of freedom of expression have not disappeared from the agenda, the deadlock in the Kurdish issue has turned into a continuous conflict.

 

IMPLEMENTED BY AKP 15 YEARS LATER

 

The State of Emergency (OHAL), which was founded in the 1982 Constitution and became law in 1983, lasted for a total of 15 years from 1987 to 2002. AKP that removed the State of Emergency (OHAL) in 2002 when they came into power, which was extended 46 times and used in the Kurdish region of the country, declared a State of Emergency themselves 15 years later. Following the 15 July 2016 military coup, the state of emergency, which was announced on 20 July and extended 7 times, was made permanent.

 

EVREN DECLARED THE INTELLECTUALS 'TREATORS' WHILE ERDOĞAN DECLARED THEM 'DARKNESS'

 

One of the most important aspects of the September 12 Coup was the 'Intellectuals Petition' launched by Aziz Nesin and Prof. Hüsnü Göksel, which was signed by 1246 intellectuals. It was supposed to be submitted to General Kenan Evren with the title 'Observations and demands regarding the democratic order in Turkey', but Evren did not accept this petition. Evren held a public meeting in Manisa and said: "We have seen a lot of these intellectuals, they are all treators."

 

Years later, AKP Chair Tayyip Erdoğan made a similar statement regarding the academics who signed the peace petition, titled 'We will not be a partner to this crime' and said, "O, you academic peace of garbages, you are the darkness, not enlightened. And most of you are paid by the state. We are face to face with the betrayel of these so called intellectuals that carry the ID's of this state."

 

Poet Ahmet Telli who was exiled from being a teacher during September 12 coup and Academic Cenk Yiğiter who was exiled during July 15 Coup Attempt spoke to Mesopotamia Agency (MA) regarding the two dark periods of Turkey.

 

'THE NAME OF THE NIGHTMARE WAS THE KURDISH ISSUE'

 

Telli who was exiled from his job being declared an 'undesirable writer' and stayed under custody for 72 days, said even witnessing those days was brutal, like he said in his poem 'Water decayed', "I destroyed all there is in my mind. I burnt them with an electrical device, scraped it with a razor. I blew them all through the range of screams, they have all turned to ash. I don't know anything other than my name."

 

Telli said: "Until the 1970s, the Turkish revolutionary movement remained a bit nationalist and nationalitarian. Deniz Gezmiş mentioning the rights of the Turks and Kurds have been one of the main veins of 68's that fed the process. The Kurdish people was awake. They insisted on their identity. The biggest fear of the rulers was the emergence of the Kurdish freedom movement, it was a nightmare for them. As a result of this nightmare, a coup mechanism was activated on September 12.  

 

'THE CHARACTER OF COUPS ARE SIMILAR'

 

As it was in the aftermath of September 12 Coup, thousands of academics and public workers were dismissed after July 20, following the coup attempt in July 15. Although the actors changed, the practices did not. Stating that the basic phenomenon that brought Turkey to the July 15 process was the deadlock on the Kurdish issue, Cenk Yiğiter stressed that a dirty war has been waged since then.

 

Yiğiter said: "The law enforcement officers wrote 'The wolf has tasted the blood' on the walls in 2015 in the Kurdish cities. They used heavy weapons in the region and then the same thing happened in Ankara and İstanbul with the July 15 attempt. When the 'wolf tasted the blood, the carnage continued."

 

Telli added: “The character of the coups is very similar, especially in countries like ours, which have scarce democracy and a lot of dictatorship. Immediately after September 12, revolutionary public workers were dismissed. Evren was an ignorant who insisted on his own mistake, saying, years later, "I would do it again today." Those who turn today's July 15 coup attempt into an opportunity are not clever but cunning. They showed how cunning they are at July 20 and here we are. July 15 was a fight between forces that wanted to share out the power. Revolutionaries are the nightmare of those who fought for power and tens of thousands of people were dismissed from their jobs with a law decree."

 

'IT WAS WORSE THEN SEPTEMBER 12'

 

Yiğiter drew attention to the fact that the practices following the State of Emergency of July 20, were worse than it was after September 12. Yiğiter told that the people dismissed from their jobs after September 12 were able to work as attorneys and such, and said: "I wasn't able to enter the school territory because I was dismissed with a law decree. It was like a great power denationalized me. This is a Nazi practice and it is very dangerous. No one in the international platforms did anything while this happened to us."

 

AKP MADE THE COUP PERMANENT

 

The coup institutions and coup constitution that were formed during the September 12 period still exist. The state of emergency practices announced after July 15 were also made permanent with the legalization of the 25 July 2018 "Law Proposal Amending Certain Laws and Decree Laws". Yiğiter said they made the coup permanent, deciding they need war to maintain their power.

 

'THE SOLUTION IS THE PEACE MOVEMENT'

 

Yiğiter stated that the only way to eliminate the coup tradition is the solution to the Kurdish issue. Yiğiter said: "In order to built peace, justice and equality in Turkey, the AKP rule must come to an end. And even after that Turkey will not be free from a putschist tradition or a similar right wing dictatorship. This requires a very strong movement for social labor, democracy and peace. This movement will be much more need when AKP is out of the picture."

 

Telli said: "I don't know what to do against the coups, but I know what shouldn't be done. I know we aren't supposed to what the opposition is doing now. They use the same discourse with the ruling party. The opposition thinks AKP will dissappear on its own accord and this leads to inaction. Inaction is a bad thing. We need to develop opposing discourses."

 

MA / Berivan Altan - Emrullah Acar