Istanbul ( CNN ) -- Turkey moved one step closer to prosecuting the senior commanders behind a military coup in 1980 when a Turkish court approved on Tuesday a prosecutor 's indictment of retired army general and former president Kenan Evren , semi-official Anatolian Agency reported . Ankara 's 12th Heavy Crime Court also announced retired air force chief Tahsin Sahinkaya was included in the indictment . According to Anatolian , the indictment suggests life imprisonment for Evren and Sahinkaya for allegedly committing `` acts against the forces of the state . '' Some Turkish media have drawn parallels to the landmark prosecution of Chile 's once unassailable military dictator Augusto Pinochet . Evren , now 94 , led the overthrow of the Turkish government when he ordered tanks out into the streets of the capital in the pre-dawn hours of September 12 , 1980 . The overthrow brought an end to years of bloody killings between right- and left-wing Turkish militants , and many prominent voices in Turkey and abroad initially welcomed the coup . A Time magazine cover from the time even featured a `` paternalistic portrait of General Evren clasping a collage of the Istanbul skyline in his arms with the caption 'Holding Turkey Together ' , '' according to `` Turkey Unveiled , a History of Modern Turkey . '' But in the aftermath of the military take-over , accounts of human rights abuses began to emerge . Hundreds of thousands of people were thrown in jail , many of them tortured . The military junta also disbanded political parties , jailed senior politicians , and sentenced hundreds of people to death . `` September 12th is the mother of all coups in Turkey 's history , '' said Yasemin Congar , columnist and deputy editor of the Turkish daily newspaper `` Taraf . '' `` It damaged the whole country and probably caused incurable damage on one whole generation of the youth in this society . '' Hugh Pope , co-author of `` Turkey Unveiled , '' said the coup `` brought Turkish politics back to the kindergarten . '' `` [ Evren ] somehow wanted to force the politicians to be less conflictual , but he did so by dumbing them down to the point that Turkey 's political system is still recovering from it , '' he said . `` Unfortunately the consequences of his actions ruined so many people 's lives . One has to wonder how Turkey is going to deal with that . '' According to an article in the Turkish constitution , which was written by the military junta in 1982 , Evren and his fellow officers were protected from prosecution . But recent constitutional changes drafted and ratified by prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan 's ruling Justice and Development Party cleared the way for a prosecutor to question Evren at his home last year . Erdogan 's government has also overseen the arrest and trial of dozens of other army generals accused of a much more recent military coup plot , which was never successfully carried out . According to Anatolian Agency , authorities arrested retired general Hursit Tolon on Tuesday in connection to the more recent plot . And last week , authorities detained retired general Ilker Basbug , who commanded the Turkish armed forces until 2010 . Some critics have called the prosecutions a witch hunt , targeting political opponents of Erdogan 's government . Other argue it has been a vital process to bring the military under the control of elected civilian leaders . Since 1960 , the once politically-dominant Turkish armed forces have overthrown four governments . `` Ending the belief of impunity is very , very important , '' said Congar of 'Taraf ' newspaper , which has published many damning reports about the Turkish military in recent years . `` It 's a huge step , obviously very late . These generals are very old . But it 's still symbolically very important for this country . ''
Turkish court approves indictments in 1980 military coup , Anatolian Agency reports . Former army general Kenan Evren and air force chief Tahsin Sahinkaya are named . While initially welcomed , Evren 's military junta was blamed for human rights abuses . The country is still struggling with the coup 's aftermath , observers say .