Former Turkish President Kenan Evren died on Saturday at the age of 97, the BBC reports.
On 12 September 1980 General Evren launched a coup that overthrew the government. He went on to serve as president until 1989.
He was put on trial in his nineties and was handed a life sentence for the coup in 2014.
Some 600,000 people were detained and 50 executed by hanging in the coup. All political parties were banned, with left-wing activists heavily targeted.
The former president died at a hospital in Ankara.
He had been in ill health since 2012 and was unable to appear in court when convicted.