Self-government in Fatsa

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The self-government in Fatsa was the experiment of collective self-government in Fatsa , a Turkish district town on the Black Sea, under the mayor Fikri Sönmez between October 1979 and July 1980, which was stopped by military intervention.

The 1979 elections

After three attempts on him had failed, the tailor Fikri Sönmez was elected mayor on October 18, 1979 as an independent candidate with 62% of the vote. This could be seen as the result of a politicization that began in the 1960s with the establishment of a cultural association and a local association of the Turkish Workers' Party as well as the occupation of the hazelnut cooperative (Fiskobirlik) and in the 1970s with the establishment of a people's house and the activities of the teachers' association TÖB-DER was continued. The program with which Fikri Sönmez had started provided for a kind of self-government in which the suggestions came from local committees, were examined by the administration for practicability, in order then to be decided and implemented in the committees. This model was based on the idea of ​​the resistance committees as propagated by the Devrimci Yol (German: Revolutionary Way) movement .

The self-administration

An action program was adopted soon after the elections. This included building roads in marshland. In their own work was with the active support of people from surrounding villages the project, should take the number of years completed in six days. Other measures included making public transport cheaper, making bread more cost-effective and modernizing the fire brigade. The experiment in Fatsa became known through a folk festival ("Fatsa Halk Şenliği") from April 8th to 14th, 1980. In addition to a lot of praise, there was also sharp criticism, especially from the conservative press, such as B. the daily newspaper Tercüman .

Dress rehearsal for the coup: the so-called "point operation"

During the Çorum pogrom in July 1980 with over 30 deaths, Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel issued the slogan: Forget Çorum and look to Fatsa . The daily Hürriyet gave the go-ahead for the military when it reported on the alleged kidnapping of two officers on July 10, 1980. It was later found that they had enjoyed themselves with prostitutes.

In the "point operation" (nokta operasyon) units from Izmir, Erzurum, Konya, Bolu and surrounding provinces were used. A total of 10 masked people, of whom it was later found that 5 were wanted as militant right-wing extremists, pointed to suspects and led to the arrest of 390 people, of whom only 6 were in custody. Among them was the mayor, Fikri Sönmez. He is said to have been interrogated under severe torture. Further allegations of torture were raised in the course of further military operations in surrounding towns. The situation in and around Fatsa did not calm down until the military coup of September 12, 1980 .

Trial in the Amasya Military Court

On January 12, 1983 the trial of 759 defendants from Fatsa and the surrounding area was opened before the military court in Amasya . The military prosecutor asked for the death penalty in 268 cases . In addition to a large number of mostly unsolved political murders, the accused were a. accused of: - following the strategy of Devrimci Yol, of having set up resistance committees under the name of town committees and having played an active role in the elections; - to have founded people's courts together with other militants and to have passed judgments on the citizens there; - To have made the city's fleet available for demonstrations and rallies; - To have organized seminars together with other militants in the People's House in Fatsa. On May 4, 1985, Fikri Sönmez died of heart failure in prison.

By 1988 the number of accused had risen to 811. In the end, 8 defendants were sentenced to death, 14 received life sentences and 100 defendants were sentenced to terms of between 1 and 6 years.

The daily newspaper Yeni Politika on July 6, 1995 reported on the appeal proceedings of the defendants in the Fatsa trial before the 11th criminal division of the Court of Cassation . After that there were still 460 accused, 149 of whom were acquitted. The acquittals were confirmed. Likewise the decision to rule on limitation in 64 cases. On the other hand, the death penalty was demanded for 20 defendants.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ alternative turkey aid (ath) Fatsa: A model is indicted , Bielefeld, undated, p. 12
  2. ^ Ath Fatsa: A model is indicted , Bielefeld, undated, p. 16
  3. ^ Ath Fatsa: A model is indicted , Bielefeld, undated, p. 18
  4. ↑ cf. News in Cumhuriyet newspaper of January 10, 1983
  5. ↑ Amnesty international: Turkey - Die denied Menschenrechte , Bonn November 1988, ISBN 3-89290-016-7 , p. 55
  6. ↑ Halil Nebiler. Pişman İtirafçılar. İstanbul Kasım 1990