ANKARA
An Ankara court began Wednesday hearing a case on a military takeover in Turkey in 1980, one of the most controversial episodes in the modern Turkish political history.
Retired Gen. Kenan Evren (94)-- the leader of the coup and Turkey's president from 1982 to 1989 -- and retired Gen. Tahsin Sahinkaya --chief of the air force at the time -- are the last two suspects still alive to face charges of crimes against the state and possible lifetime imprisonment.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Ankara Court House as police have taken extensive security measures.
"We did not forget, we do not forgive," read one banner the demonstrators carried with others showing pictures of those who were killed during the military junta which is held responsible for the killing of hundreds of people.
A estimated 630 thousand people were taken under custody and 230 thousand of them stood trial, and seven thousand people were sentenced to death penalty and 50 of them were executed during military junta, according to a report by a Turkish daily on Wednesday.
