During the postmodern coup period of February 28, a proposal to establish a damage assessment commission was brought to the agenda in order to ensure that those who could not get their rights or those who received missing rights could regain these rights.
The victims, who suffered moral and material injustice on February 28, are waiting for the unlawfulness to be remedied.
Şerife Kaya, President of the February 28 Volunteers Platform, said that they are working with non-governmental organizations, lawyers and volunteers.
"THERE IS A MASKED VICTIMATION"
Stating that many people were directly and indirectly victimized by the February 28 coup, Kaya said, "There are numbers given by the State Personnel Department in the February 28 case in which I was also involved. There were 4 thousand 220 people expelled between 1997 and 2002. However, a study needs to be done regarding those who resigned. 195 students were expelled because of their headscarves. It's a funny number. There is a masked victimization regarding them. It doesn't seem to be on record. At that time, students were not allowed into schools and were expelled for absenteeism, thus committing another unlawful act. These numbers can be determined from the archives of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK). There are people who were forced to resign due to mobbing. The petitions of many people who resigned because of the headscarf were torn up and they were forced to resign on the grounds of 'family reasons'."
Stating that they also applied to the Turkish Human Rights and Equality Institution and the Ombudsman Institution, Kaya explained that although both institutions made a recommendation regarding the surrender of rights, they were not taken into consideration because they did not have legal sanction.
THE WOUNDS OF FEBRUARY 28 SHOULD BE HEALED WITH THE COMPASSIONATE HAND OF THE STATE
Stating that 4 thousand families, whose real estate was taken away from them with the May 27 coup, received their rights with the commission established after the law enacted in 2020, Kaya reminded that Damage Assessment Commissions were established with the regulation made in 2005 regarding those who were harmed by terrorism.
Kaya said that, as the victims of February 28, they demanded the establishment of a similar damage assessment commission.
"Some victim groups were able to receive only some of their rights, while others did not receive any. With the damage assessment commission to be established, those who have never received their rights or those who received them incompletely should receive these rights. This is not a situation unique to our country. Similar commissions were established in Chile after the coup. We want representatives and lawyers of victim groups to take part in this commission. Both the state and we are very tired. The rights should be returned and the file should be closed. Because their right to education was denied, students either could not study or graduated late and did not participate in employment for a long time. There were those who studied abroad and did not receive equivalence for many years. If a wound has been opened by the hand of the state, those wounds must be healed by the compassionate hand of the state," Kaya added.