DEVA Party lawmaker İdris Şahin met at the Turkish parliament with representatives of a platform formed by families of soldiers who say their relatives were victimized in trials following Turkey’s July 15, 2016 coup attempt.
Şahin, an Ankara deputy for the opposition Democracy and Progress Party, said after the meeting that he had listened to the families’ grievances and their long-standing calls for fair trials.
“We met with the Platform of Families of Soldiers Victimized by July 15,” Şahin said. “We listened to the injustices they have suffered and the legitimate demands they have been raising for years.”
The platform represents families of soldiers, cadets and lower-ranking military personnel who argue that their relatives were punished in post-coup trials without adequate examination of individual responsibility, intent or the chain of command.
Many families have said their relatives were acting under orders, were not told they were taking part in a coup attempt and were later convicted through collective reasoning rather than individualized evidence.
Şahin said the families’ demands should be considered under universal principles of law.
“We saw once again that demands for a fair trial must be evaluated within the framework of the universal principles of law,” he said.
“Justice, whether delayed or partially applied, leaves deep wounds in the social conscience,” he added. “For this reason, every demand raised must be addressed with great care on the scales of equity.”
The meeting came amid renewed public debate over July 15 trials, particularly cases involving military cadets, conscripts and lower-ranking soldiers who were given lengthy prison sentences after being sent to key locations on the night of the coup attempt.
Families and rights advocates have long argued that Turkish courts failed to distinguish between commanders accused of planning the coup attempt and young soldiers or students who followed orders during a night of confusion.
Şahin’s remarks signaled support for reviewing those cases through fair-trial standards rather than treating all defendants in post-coup military proceedings as having the same level of responsibility.
