Turkey Coup Leaders' Court Hearing Starts, As MPs Back Turkey To Join The EU

Turkey's landmark trial of the two surviving leaders of the 1980 military coup has begun, more than three decades after the army seized power.

The country's 94-year-old former general Kenan Evren who as military chief of staff led the coup, and then the country for seven years, and his co-conspirator,Tahsin Sahinkaya, 86, are charged with ousting the civilian government on September 12, 1980.

Hundreds of thousands of people were arrested, 50 were executed, dozens more were tortured to death and tens of thousands were exiled during the years of military rule after the coup, Turkey's third in 20 years.

The men, who are both absent from the trial due to their poor health, face life imprisonment if convicted.

Meanwhile a committee of MPs has backed Turkey to join the EU, but warned issues around human rights and the conflict over Cyprus must be resolved first.

The EU Foreign Affairs Select Committee visited Turkey and found itself "struck by the country's economic dynamism and international ambition". But chairman Richard Ottaway said elements of the Turkish judicial system were troubling.

The stalemate in Cyprus has effectively left the country's process of joining the EU "stuck", the committee report adds.

Note EU-Digest: these developments certainly are a step in the right direction for Turkey as long as it does not only mean a shift within the power structure of the country, but also a new direction towards more democracy and  respect for human rights within a secular Turkish State.

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