Daily Times

The decision by the Erdogan government in Turkey to put former army chief and coup-maker General Kenan Evren and his collaborator, former air force chief Tahsin Sahinkaya on trial for the 1980 military takeover, which had derailed Turkey from the democratic path for three decades, is a classic example of how time eventually catches up, or should catch up, with violators of the constitution. The post-coup lame justification given by Evren was that the toppling of the elected government was necessary to rid the country of “political violence”. The Evren coup, Turkey’s third in 20 years, was marked by the worst type of authoritarianism and excesses. Three decades down the line, Evren and Tahsin Sahinkaya were unable to attend the court proceedings that began in Ankara the other day. As a result the court had to postpone the reading of the indictment — a mandatory legal formality that has to be normally performed in the presence of the defendants. Here in Pakistan our halting and repeatedly interrupted journey to democracy has many similarities with Turkey, with Zia’s martial law bearing close resemblance to Evren’s brutal repression though public floggings and other draconian repression. Like Evren, Zia had tried to demonstrate through his illegal and unconstitutional rule that Pakistan could not afford the luxury of a liberal, constitutional democracy. Again, like Evren’s controversial ‘election’, Zia had held a non-credible referendum to award himself another term in office, though Evren had not gone to the extent of calling the constitution “a scrap of paper” or words to that effect. Even a lapse of 32 years has not erased or dimmed Turks’ bitterness, nor has the time lapse erased the public bitterness against Zia’s misrule in Pakistan.

The toll taken by the Evren dictatorship was simply mind-boggling: some 650,000 people detained, with 230,000 tried by military courts; 300 died in prison, including 171 of torture, and 49 were executed. There have long been calls to put Evren on trial, but none of the shaky coalition governments in Turkey felt strong or stable enough to risk confrontation with the powerful military establishment. Now that the long-delayed trial has started, several political parties and NGOs in Turkey have desired to join it as plaintiffs. Turkey has set a precedent that needs to be emulated by other countries with Bonapartist tendencies to deter would-be coup-makers. The trail blazed by PPP’s old guard had put our country on the path to democratisation, which must continue to be pursued and deepened. As Churchill had once remarked: the cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy. There is a need for us to correct the civil-military imbalance in Pakistan, which alone will be in our long-term national interest. *