Kenan Evren

Ahmet Kenan Evren ( 17 July 1917 – 9 May 2015) was a Turkish  military officer who was the  seventh President of Turkey  from 1980 to 1989. He assumed the post by leading the 1980 military coup.

On 18 June 2014, a Turkish court sentenced him to  life imprisonment and demotion of his military rank down to private, from army general, for leading the military coup in 1980, obstructing democracy by deposing the prime minister Suleyman Demirel, abolishing the parliament and the senate and abolishing the constitution. This sentence was on appeal at the time of his death.

Evren died at a military hospital in Ankara on 9 May 2015, aged 97.

Biography
Kenan Evren was born in  Alaşehir,  Manisa Province.  After going to elementary school and middle school in Manisa,  Balıkesir and  Istanbul, he attended military high school in Maltepe,  Ankara. In 1938, he graduated from army school and in 1949 from  military academy as a staff officer.

From 1958 to 1959, he served in the  Turkish Brigade in  Korea. In 1964, he was promoted to  general<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. Evren served at various posts as Army Chief. He was the commander of  Operation Gladio<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s Turkish branch; the  Counter-Guerrilla<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. The Counter-Guerrilla was an  anti-communist<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> " stay-behind<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">" guerrilla force set up with the support of NATO. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> He became Chief of General Staff in March 1978.

Military coup
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The years leading to the coup were characterized as a fierce struggle between the rightists and leftists. Hoping to see a communist revolution, the left wingers rioted in the streets; on the other hand, the nationalist rightists fought back the left wingers and provoked religious arousal. Universities had taken sides and each became headquarters for either the leftists or rightists.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">With the coup came the  National Security Council<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as the ruling body. The council of 1980 was composed of the commanders Kenan Evren, the Chief of Staff and President of the State. The parliament was dissolved. The  Central Intelligence Agency<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s Ankara bureau chief at the time, Paul B. Henze, received a call from the  White House Situation Room<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> saying "Paul, your guys have done it", while President  Jimmy Carter<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> was watching  Fiddler on the Roof<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> at the  Kennedy Center<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">After the coup, Kenan Evren was  elected<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> as President of Turkey on 7 November 1982 with the 90% approval of the new constitution that was submitted to a controversial referendum, replacing the older constitution which, according to him, had liberties too "luxurious" for Turkey.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Evren suspended many forms of  civil liberties and human rights<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> on the grounds that it was necessary to establish stability. He professed great admiration for the founder of the Republic of Turkey,   Mustafa Kemal Atatürk; however, he shut down many institutions founded by Atatürk and is often accused of deforming the country's legal system against Atatürk's principles. During his military regime, many people were tortured and executed due to their political beliefs.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Evren took strong measures to ensure that the division between the political left and right would not turn into violence again; the new constitution limited the rights and depoliticized the youth.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">According to a report on the  Susurluk scandal<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> of 1996, prepared by Prime Ministry Inspection Board deputy chairman Kutlu Savaş, quoted by the  Human Rights Foundation of Turkey<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, "Fascists had been released from prison in return for 'finishing some jobs' under Evren's rule after 12 September 1980".

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Responding to a journalist's question regarding the execution of 17-year-old Erdal Eren, he responded "Should we feed him rather than hang him?"

Post-presidency
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">After his retirement, he moved to the Turkish Mediterranean resort town of  Armutalan<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  Marmaris<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, and took up painting.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 2 August 2006, a reported plan for assassinating Evren was thwarted when two men were apprehended and arrested in  Muğla<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">A previous attempt in 1996 had already been tracked down when two members of the assassination team spoke on a cellphone eavesdropped by the police, and the Islamic call to prayer ( adhan<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">) could be heard during their conversation. Since the timing of the  adhan<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> was 4–5 minutes after Istanbul, a point slightly more to the west by that time margin was sought and the team members were caught in  Marmaris<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> itself.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">In 2004, he revealed that his daughter, Şenay Gürvit, and son-in-law, Erkan Gürvit, are members of the  National Intelligence Organization<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. His daughter presided over the reprisal operations against the militant Armenian organization  ASALA<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">After  Bülent Ecevit<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">'s death, he expressed remorse over the arrest of political leaders after the 1980 coup, <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> but defended the coup itself and the 35 executions.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Civilian resentment exists, and there were demands for his being called to account following the  Ergenekon investigation<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

Trial and conviction
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">On 10 January 2012, Turkish courts decided to press charges against General Kenan Evren and General  Tahsin Şahinkaya<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, former  Commander of the Turkish Air Force<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, for their role in the 1980 coup. Prosecutors sought life sentences against them. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> The first court hearing of the case was scheduled for 4 April 2012. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> Both were sentenced to life imprisonment on 18 June 2014 by a court in Ankara. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> In accordance with Article 30 of the Military Penal Code, Evren and Şahinkaya were demoted to the lowest rank of  private<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">.

Personal life
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Evren married Sekine Evren in 1944 and they had three daughters, Şenay, Gülay and Miray. Sekine died in 1982.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Evren was hospitalized for massive  gastrointestinal bleeding<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> on 3 August 2009, in  Yalıkavak<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">,  Bodrum<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">, where his summer house is located. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> A temporary  artificial pacemaker<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> was applied to Evren while in  intensive care<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> due to  bradycardia<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> His  large intestine was removed<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> a week later at GATA in Istanbul (Gülhane Military Medicine Academy) where he was transferred. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> He was discharged on 24 September 2009.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Evren died at a military hospital in Ankara on 9 May 2015, aged 97. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> On 12 May, he was buried in the  Turkish State Cemetery<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> in Ankara following the funeral service held at Ahmet Hamdi Akseki Mosque. The funeral was attended by his close relatives and military personnel. In protest, political parties sent no representatives to the former president's funeral. A number of people protested during the religious service in the mosque's courtyard.