Turkey Sentences Nearly 500 to Life in Prison for 2016 ‘Coup’

A court in Turkey on Thursday sentenced 475 defendants to lengthy prison terms, in many cases handing down multiple life sentences, in a mass trial for “traitors” accused of participating in the 2016 attempt to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The defendant Erdogan is most eager to put on trial remains elusive, as the United States refuses to extradite alleged coup mastermind Fethullah Gulen, a longtime resident of Pennsylvania. Gulen has vehemently denied any involvement in the incident and the U. S. government has asserted it also has no evidence suggesting he was involved.

The mass trial mostly pertained to actions taken at Akinci Air Base in Ankara, allegedly the military command post for the unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Erdogan on July 15, 2016.

Rebellious military officers launched aerial attacks against parliamentary and presidential buildings and, in the tensest moment of the brief conflict, F-16 fighter jets with rebel pilots came very close to shooting down President Erdogan’s plane as he flew into Istanbul. Erdogan’s then-chief of staff Hulusi Akar, now Turkey’s defense minister, was among those held hostage at the Akinci Air Base during the coup attempt. The attacks reportedly killed 68 people in the bombings and over 200 more were injured.

Turkish media reported that 19 of the defendants in the mass trial received 79 life sentences each. The court dispensed over 3,900 years in prison to the defendants; 70 of the defendants were acquitted.

Of the defendants, 25 were military generals. Many of those who received multiple life sentences were high-ranking military officers or fighter pilots. Four of the defendants were described as “civilian imams.” The mass trial has been in progress since August 2017.

Almost 100,000 arrests have been made in connection with the coup attem... (Read more)

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