Low key 'state' funeral for Turkish coup leader

ANKARA

The body of the leader of Turkey’s 1980 military coup was buried in Ankara on Tuesday in a ceremony boycotted by the government and opposition politicians.

Kenan Evren, who presided over a coup that led to the deaths of hundreds of Turks, was carried to the Turkish General Staff Headquarters and Ahmet Hamdi Akseki mosque before being interred in the state cemetery.

As the Turkey’s seventh president, Evren was entitled to a state funeral but his role in the brutal coup saw most public figures stay away.

Evren's family, former Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok and senior military officers attended a ceremony at the cemetery.

Riot police lined the streets as police and military vehicles escorted the former chief of general staff’s body from Gulhane military hospital in north Ankara, where he had received medical treatment since March 2012, to the military HQ and later on to the mosque and cemetery, where he will lie alongside the republic’s former presidents, prime ministers and senior military officials.

Evren, who died on May 9 aged 97, came to power in September 1980 when the army intervened to end widespread street violence between left- and right-wing activists.

For three years, the military ruled directly through the National Security Council before a new parliament was voted in and Evren appointed president, a post he held until November 1989.

The coup was the bloodiest in modern Turkish history, with 50 people hanged and nearly 300 dying through torture or neglect. Among the more than 650,000 people detained was former Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, who now lies in the state cemetery where Evren is interred.

In June last year, Evren and former general Tahsin Sahinkaya were given life sentences for crimes against the constitution and parliament. Appeals are still being considered.

Evren’s funeral was announced by the office of the chief of general staff on Monday.

On the day of the announcement, the prime minister’s office said no government officials would attend the ceremony. The four main parliamentary parties declared they would not send representatives.

However, senior military official such as the current heads of the Turkish army, air force and navy – Hulusi Akar, Akin Ozturk and Bulent Bostanoglu respectively – as well as the head of the paramilitary gendarmerie Abdullah Atay did attend mosque prayers.

Current Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Ozel was not present. The ceremony at the military HQ and the cemetery was closed to the media.

Others who attended the mosque included former Chief of General Staff Isik Kosaner; former First Army commander Cevik Bir; ex-ministers Ismet Sezgin and Mehmet Agar; and the former president of Fenerbahce Football Club Ali Sen.