On this day in 1980, a right-wing military junta, trained by the US and led by General Kenan Evran, took power in a coup in Turkey, resulting in the arrests of 650,000, thousands more sentenced to death and hundreds tortured & killed.
The junta established martial law, abolished political parties, trade unions and democratic rights. Hundreds of thousands were tried for the "crime" of belonging to a political organization or had their citizenship revoked & were denied passports. 30,000 fled as refugees.
Thousands of teachers were fired, hundreds of journalists were fired and attacked, newspapers were closed, hundreds of films were banned and books were burned. The junta unleashed a wave of repression against working class and left-wing opponents of the regime.
Kenan Evren, the coup leader, was the commander of "Counter-Guerrilla", the Turkish branch of the US-created "Operation Gladio", the anti-communist guerrilla force set up to undermine communism across Europe.
The US was aware of the coup before it occurred and by some accounts was involved in its planning. But it is certain the US approved of it. The New York Times coverage of the coup described the junta as bringing “stability” and “restoring democracy”.
In 1988, Ronald Reagan hosted a state dinner for Kenan Evran at the White House.
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