On 12 September 1980, the Turkish military carried out a coup d’état. In the end of the 1970s, Turkey was politically and economically unstable. Under the pretext of re-establishing national unity and state authority, the military removed the government, occupied essential public spaces and institutions and formed a military government. The new military government declared the state of emergency, banned political parties, books and organisations and persecuted and arrested critics and activists, many people were tortured or sentenced to death. As a result, many people left Turkey, including a lot of people seeking refuge in the Federal Republic of Germany.