Paper long abstract:

In the historically accepted dominant narrative of Turkey's recent past, the 1980 coup d'état has been declared necessary for Turkey's emergence from socio-political unrest and economic turmoil and its entrance into neo-liberal world order and global modernity. According to a large number of politicians, scholars, and ordinary citizens, it was the "bitter prescription" that had to be applied for the recovery of Turkish democracy. Yet, thousands of social activists today condemn the 1980 coup d'état and human rights violations of the provisional military regime. They demand that the violent past be confronted in order to overcome current limitations on Turkish democracy. This paper compares and contrasts conflicting narratives of the 1980 coup d'état by analyzing the issues of Hayat magazine published in the 1980s and by ethnographically exploring the rhetoric of the social activists in Turkey.