EU: "Investigating the 1980 coup is an opportnutiy for democracy"

The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, is praising last week's questioning of former Turkish President Kenan Evren, who came to power in the 1980 military coup, calling the new probe of the coup "an opportunity for Turkey to strengthen confidence in the proper functioning of its democratic institutions and the rule of law." According to the press office of EU Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Commissioner Stefan Fule, "In its 2010 progress report, the commission recalled that the constitutional provision providing immunity for the perpetrators of the 1980 coup d'état was deleted from the Constitution. The current investigation is a logical development in this regard."