The constitutional changes brought the 2010 referendum normalized relations between the military and civil society in Turkey, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said on Friday.
Arinc spoke out after two leaders of Turkey's bloody 1980 military coup – Kenan Evren, 96, and Tahsin Sahinkaya, 88 – were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Under the constitution introduced by the military in 1980, they had been protected from prosecution and Arinc said it was the 2010 referendum, brought about by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), that removed this immunity.
Referring to opposition parties who boycotted the parliamentary vote to amend the constitution, Arinc said: "They accused us [the AKP] of dividing the country. Now, we see the referendum has closed an era of coup and junta."
He praised the sentencing of Evren and Sahinkaya as a first in Turkey's political history.
Speaking at a news conference, Arinc also dismissed a reporter’s question about an alleged claim from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) that they would seize Istanbul. "These kinds of organizations like propaganda,” he said, adding that there was no indication that ISIL would target Turkey. “Turkey is always prepared for any threat from these groups,” he continued.
ISIL fighters have made significant advances into the northern Nineveh and Salahuddin provinces of Iraq and the crisis has drawn international attention, with neighboring Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan alert over any potential ISIL threat.
Arinc told journalists that Turkey is involved in international efforts to prevent the conflict in Iraq becoming a sectarian struggle between the Sunni and Shia communities. He said: "Turkey meticulously monitors the ongoing developments in its foreign diplomacy."
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