ANKARA
The Turkish government is positive for the retrials in cases handled by special-authority courts on army personnel for past coup d’etats and attempts, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday.
In a press meeting in Istanbul before leaving for Japan for an official visit, Erdogan said that he looks positively to an offer by the Union of Turkish Bar Associations for the retrial of army personnel tried for past coup d'etats and attempts.
"We were already regarding the retrials issue positively. My team is about to finish necessary preparations for it," Erdogan told reporters in response to a question.
The offer could help pave the way for the undoing of past judgments on army personnel, according to the Bar.
Turkish armed forces earlier this week filed a criminal complaint regarding cases on its staff, urging for retrials.
"We don't have any problems on retrials, as long as the legal ground is established for that. And if the opposition supports us, we can even bring this issue as a subject of a constitutional amendment,” Erdogan said.
A parliamentary bill approved on July 5, 2012 outlawed special-authority courts, which were set up mostly to handle cases of coups d'etat’etat that have dogged Turkish political history for decades. However, the courts continued to operate after the resolution due to a string attached to the bill: That they finish hearing cases at hand.
The Bar’s offer comprises two steps for ending the allegedly illegal judicial impact of the said courts, one to return unfinished cases to relevant courts, and the other to offer retrials in cases where a judgment has been already been established by a special-authority court.
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