September 12

Overview

In September 1980, General Kenan Evren, Chief of the General Staff of Turkey, took control of the nation in a military coup d'etat that overthrew prime minister Suleyman Demirel during a period of chaos and violence. Filmmaker Ozlem Sulak offers a look at how the coup impacted the lives of the people of Turkey in this documentary. In September 12, Sulak interviews a number of ordinary citizens as they go about their work -- fixing the sink, making brooms, working in a laboratory, wrapping packages -- and share their memories of the day of the coup. Sulak's subjects were lucky enough to have witnessed the event and lived to tell about it, and their stories balance the violence and discord of the event with the perspectives of those who saw the military dictatorship come and go.