Coup d´État of 12 September was Condemned in Istanbul

Struggle for more democracy still continues. With the call of several organizations, thousands gathered at Kadikoy on 11th of September to protest remaining legal inheritance of the coup, as well as to call for getting the putschist judged. The organizers were wide as The Initiative of Generation of 78’s, UIDDER, BDP, DISK/EmekliSen, EDH, EHP, EMEP, HAK-PAR, IHD, Kaldirac, KESK-Platform of Istanbul Branches, KOZ, ODP, SDP, TOP, TMMOB, Association of Lecturers of Universities. Marching column called out that heads and custodians of the coup are still free; that constitution of the coup remains in force; and that unfair war against Kurdish people is even rising. Corteges started to get crowded in front of Tepe Nautilus at 12:00, and the march begun approximately at 13:00. Front ranks carried puppets of the putschists and their collaborators, “The Suspect, Stand Up” was written on them. 

The meeting started at 14:00 with homage for workers and revolutionaries who were killed through extrajudicial killings, during systematic torture, or were hanged after so-called trials in the period of coup d´État of 12 September 1980. Then the representatives of the organizations greeted the crowd. First, Tahsin Yesildere, chairman of Association of Lecturers of Universities, made a welcoming speech in the name of organizing committee of the meeting. He drove attention to the fact that we have been living with the coup for 31 years, that institutions of the coup still operates, that unless a real settlement has not been done, shadow of the coup on the society will keep its effect, that repression will get prolonged and that the putschists and their collaborators should immediately be sentenced.

The second speaker was Celalettin Can from The Initiative of Generation of 78’s. Mr. Can emphasized that it is a must to judge each who has responsibility. He told that no real trial observed yet, while fundamental institutions inherited from the coup has not been liquidated. “To judge the putschists of 12 September is our liability against peoples of Turkey as well as the humanity” he stated.

Sirri Sureyya Onder, one of the deputies of the Block for Labor, Democracy and Freedom, said “the prime minister wishes Diyarbakir Prison to have a tongue to speak of the past. Let’s free him from trouble and tell off as the witness and victims who were there. On the walls of Diyarbakir prison, it was written ‘citizen, talk Turkish, and talk the more’. That meant speaking Kurdish would be the less. A couple of days ago, we were at the trial of KCK. There, no one was allowed to speak Kurdish, not even a word. So is the difference! They were eagerly trying to create a sole type of human, today it remains so”. Onder also criticized the politics of war lead by AKP.

An other deputy of the Block, Abdullah Levent Tuzel told that they will not remain silent to intensified war and they will resist against military expedition.

A mother of peace, Zekiye Durmus addressing the crowd in Kurdish, commemorated her brother, Hayri Durmus who died in death fast in Diyarbakir prison during the period of coup 12 September and called to end the war: “The will of prisoners of Diyarbakir was to be able to speak their own language, and to live in peace, in brotherhood. I call for peace in the name of all mothers of peace”.

UIDDER says: “Legislation of the coup has to be removed! Putschists and their collaborators must be punished!”

UIDDER cortege marched with pancartes of “Account Day For 12 September! Class Front Against Fascism!”, “Codes of Coup Must Be Removed! Putschists and Their Collaborators Must Be Punished!” and “A Nation Oppressing Another Can Not Be Free!” The discipline of ranks, enthusiasm and the crowd was remarkable. Our attentive preparatory work and style of action was a reflection of the full weight we give to struggle for democracy and of our determination to trounce coup of 12 September. During the march, our ranks of decisive workers shouted the slogans; “Class Front Against Fascism”, “No to Unfair Wars”, “Freedom for Kurdish, Kurdara Azadi”, “We’re Not Nationalist, But Internationalists”, “Remove The Bans Over Unions and Politics”, “Full Freedom to Strike”. At the very front, were the placards with same content.

No doubt that bourgeois would grant no right spontaneously without the pressure of working class; even though some rights may drop on paper as a result of some special conditions, it is the struggle of working class which will get them live in actual life. One of the good example of this fact is that the contemporary article 15 of the Constitution, which was the legal obstacle for getting the putschists judged, is lifted, nevertheless Kenen Evren or none of his colleagues has been on trial yet. That’s just because the social opposition has not been powerful enough to force the ruling class to execute their own codes! The primary mission of the coup was to oppress the movement of working class; and it obviously smashed in the most brutal way it can. Neither AKP nor CHP would be left to assume the obligation of imprisoning the generals of 12 September and their collaborators. Therefore, to take up the struggle for democracy, and to hoist the social opposition in this content; that’s the liability of working class!