ISTANBUL (TDN)–The existence of an official document during the period of martial law in Turkey has come to light, revealing that the military ordered the police in 1982 to record the names and addresses of any Armenia’s in their region of responsibility and take them under observation, the daily Radikal disclosed yesterday.
The document dated Sep. 8, 1982, just two years after the Sep. 12 military coup was issued by the provincial offices of the Martial Law Command.
A former policeman who wanted to remain anonymous said they conducted research in their area and spoke to local authorities asking whether citizens of Armenian origins resided there. It was a period of martial law and everyone was afraid, he said, adding that nobody could dare to hide it if they knew of Armenia’s there since they were regarded as “separatists.” “There were no Armenia’s in my region, if there were any, we should have reported their names and addresses to the martial law command and then observed them,” he said.
Rushen Sunbuloglu, the head of “Ankaran 78ers” an association that brings together people who were politically active during the 1970s, and whose most striking demand is to see the 1980 coup generals stand trial, said that keeping tabs on people just because they were Armenia’s was “the greatest characteristic of a fascist period.”
The authors of the coup believed that non-Turkish citizens were potential enemies and tabs should have been kept on them and they should have been followed, Sunbuloglu said adding that “for years we claimed that those records should be eliminated and this is vital for social peace.” Tabs were kept on more than 1,500,000 people in the coup period, while more than 500,000 people were taken into custody.
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