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The decision was published in today's Official Gazette.
According to reports from the Forensic Medicine Institute, the amnesty decision was based on the convicts being "permanently ill" and "in a state of old age."
85-year-old retired general Çevik Bir was released from prison in 2022 due to "advanced dementia."
Retired General Çevik Bir served as the Deputy Chief of the General Staff during the National Security Council meeting on February 28, 1997. Retired General Çetin Doğan was the Chief of General Staff Operations at that time.
### How did the litigation process develop?
The February 28 trial, which began on September 2, 2013, accused 103 defendants of "participating in overthrowing or bringing down the Government of the Republic of Turkey by force" during the February 28 process.
In April 2018, Ankara's 5th High Criminal Court sentenced 21 out of the 103 defendants to life imprisonment, while 68 defendants were acquitted. The case was dropped for 10 defendants due to the statute of limitations expiring, and 4 defendants had passed away.
Defendant No. 1, then-Chief of General Staff İsmail Hakkı Karadayı, died on May 26, 2020, while the appeal process was still ongoing.
On July 9, 2021, the Supreme Court upheld the life imprisonment sentences for 14 defendants, including Ahmet Çörekçi, Aydan Erol, Cevat Temel Özkaynak, Çetin Doğan, Çetin Saner, Çevik Bir, Erol Özkasnak, Fevzi Türkeri, Hakkı Kılınç, İdris Koralp, İlhan Kılıç, Kenan Deniz, Vural Avar, and Yıldırım Türker. The ranks of the retired generals convicted in the case were stripped by the decision of the General Staff.
Vural Avar died due to dementia in Sincan Prison on December 22, 2022.
Following the release of Çevik Bir, Çetin Saner, and Aydan Erol, Hakkı Kılınç was also released this month due to health problems.
The sentences of General İlhan Kılıç and former Major General Kenan Deniz were also lifted by Presidential Decree in January 2023, again for health reasons.
### What happened during February 28?
The tension over "reactionary activities" in Turkey began to rise on June 28, 1996, with the coalition government formed by the Welfare Party (RP) and the True Path Party (DYP) under Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan.
Prime Minister Erbakan's silence on Muammar Gaddafi's harsh words against Turkey during his visit to Libya on October 6, his hosting of an iftar dinner for sect leaders at his official residence on January 11, 1997, and the Quds Night organized by the Sincan Municipality on January 31, where a jihad play was performed, followed by demonstrations by the Aczimendis in Ankara and another group in Istanbul demanding "sharia," raised concerns about Turkey's secular structure.
The National Security Council (MGK) meeting on February 28, 1997, took place under these conditions.
The MGK declaration emphasized that secularism is the guarantee of democracy and law in Turkey, and the government was asked to implement a series of measures, including transitioning to 8 years of uninterrupted education, transferring sect-affiliated schools to the Ministry of National Education, supervising Quran courses, and enforcing the dress code.
A few months after this meeting, a closure case was filed against the RP on the grounds that it was "the focus of anti-secular activities."
During this period, journalists, members of the judiciary, and high-level bureaucrats invited to the General Staff Headquarters were given "briefings against the threat of reactionism" by the command level.
The events of 1997 in Turkey are viewed by some as the military's direct intervention in politics and by others as a necessary move to protect secularism.
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