Word: ecevit
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...defendant in the dimly lit Ankara courtroom last week was expressionless as the prosecutor called for a verdict of not guilty. Bulent Ecevit, three- time Prime Minister of Turkey between 1974 and 1979, had been charged with engaging in political activity, which under a 1982 decree is illegal for former party leaders. But the prosecutor accepted Ecevit's argument that he had been entitled to explain his choice of a political party when he spoke in May at a convention of the party founded by his wife Rahsan...
...guilty verdict, demonstrating what Ecevit last week described as the "obvious contradictions" in the law, came as the government of Prime Minister Turgut Ozal prepared to face the voters in this week's parliamentary by-elections...
...hurl accusations at each other or criticize the regime. Political wall posters and graffiti were banned, and party members could display their loyalties only with discreet lapel pins. Virtually all politicians who had held elected office prior to the 1980 coup, including former Prime Ministers Bülent Ecevit and Siileyman Demirel, were forbidden to run. More than 500 of the candidates for seats in parliament were stricken from the ballot without explanation...
...military takeover has been pervasive in the political realm. With party activity banned, all parliamentary processes remain suspended. Both deposed Prime Minister Demirel and the former opposition leader, Bulent Ecevit, have been released after about a month in detention. The leaders of two militant parties, however-Alparslan Turkey, of the far-right Nationalist Action Party, and Necmettin Erbakan, of the radical Islamic National Salvation Party-are awaiting trial on charges of subversive political activities...
Nonetheless, in the early days of the junta's rule, most Turks seem to agree that the takeover has given the country a badly needed respite. Said Orhan Koloğlu, a former aide to Ecevit: "I like to walk two or three miles every day, but I haven't been able to do it lately; I was afraid for my life. Now I know I shall be safe. In a month's time, there may be cause to be frightened again. But for the moment, this is a welcome change...