In its latest step to confront historical taboos, Turkey will publish the previously confidential records of İstiklal Mahkemeleri or Courts of Independence, which were criticized for the death sentences handed down to dissidents in the 1920s. The minutes from trials in the courts that were set up across Turkey long remained in the dark, and they were released only partially after authorization was granted throughout the past nine decades.The Parliament is overseeing the publication of the minutes, which will be released in a 10-volume book and will be released in February. A team of nine experts analyzed 5,000 authentic documents in secrecy and interpreted minutes from 12 courts into modern Turkish. The books will be introduced at an exhibition where seals, judges' uniforms and original minutes will be on display.The Courts of Independence were originally established in September 1920 to try traitors during Turkey's War of Independence, but it later evolved into a tool to quash opposition in the early years of the Republic. Thousands of people were tried at those courts in the capital Ankara as well as in Eskişehir, Konya, Isparta, Sivas, Kastamonu, Adana and Diyarbakır, which were closed down in 1927, but many prominent people were sentenced to death. The number of people executed upon the verdicts of the courts is disputed, but most historians agree that over 1,000 people were hanged. The most controversial rulings of the courts concerned the notorious Hat Law. Administrators of Republic of Turkey, which replaced the collapsed Ottoman Empire, sought to modernize society and enacted a law that made wearing Western-style hats compulsory. İskilipli Atıf Hoca, a prominent Muslim cleric who had penned a book criticizing wearing hats a year before the law took effect, was tried at a court of independence and executed on charges of violating the law in 1926.