Former Turkish president faces life term

January 10, 2012 - 18:03 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Turkish court has accepted indictments against the country's seventh president, Kenan Evren, for his role in the 1980 army coup.

Prosecutors are seeking life terms for Gen. Evren, 94, and another retired general, Tahsin Sahinkaya, 86, the only survivors among the five coup leaders.

Last Friday, the former head of Turkey's armed forces was remanded in custody over an alleged 2003 plot.

Gen Ilker Basbug denies involvement in the so-called Ergenekon network which is alleged to have tried to overthrow Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.

The indictment of the surviving leaders of the 12 September 1980 coup is seen as a result of changes to Turkey's 1982 constitution, under which the leaders of the army had been given effective immunity from prosecution.

Gen Evren said in 2010 that he would rather commit suicide than go on trial, arguing that the army's action had saved Turkey from rising street violence involving left-wing and right-wing groups.

After the coup, 600,000 people were detained, many were tortured and 50 executed by hanging, although hundreds more were told they would face the death penalty, BBC News reported.