A Turkish court on Thursday (Nov. 26) sentenced more than 300 military and civilian personnel to life in prison for their three-year trial for their involvement in a July 2016 coup attempt to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.
They are among 475 people on trial for the August 2017 coup attempt. That coup attempt left more than 250 people dead and 2,000 injured.
The event triggered a massive crackdown and the firing of 130,000 government employees.
In the mass trial, prosecutors accused the defendants, including a number of generals and fighter pilots, of directing the coup and bombing key government buildings, including the first part of the Turkish parliament. They are also accused of holding Hulusi Akar, then military chief and now Defense Minister, hostage for several hours. Authorities say the defendants directed the coup plot from their base in Assinci, outside the capital Ankara.
The defendants are also accused of operating at the behest of Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in the United States. Gulen is accused of orchestrating the operation. He denies any wrongdoing. Turkey has been seeking his extradition.
The court ruled that Gulen and four other men wanted by Turkish authorities should be tried separately.
Seventy people were acquitted in the case, while others were sentenced to six to 16 years in prison.
Leyla Sahin Usta, deputy chairman of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, told the state-run Anadolu news agency that the party was “pleased to see the defendants, who have been tried by the public conscience, punished. He added that Thursday’s development marked “the end of the coup era in Turkey.
Relatives of some of the defendants said they were not satisfied with the verdict. Busra Taskiran, the fiancée of an F-16 trainee pilot, told The Associated Press that her boyfriend and other trainee pilots “were sentenced today to life in prison, even though they were not involved in the attempted coup. She said they “locked themselves in a room” to fight the coup.
The father of another convicted trainee pilot, Alper Kalin, said that the court did not consider evidence that would have proved the innocence of some of the trainee pilots.
Recent Comments