AFP, Sincan (Turkey) :
The trial opened on Monday of more than 220 suspects, including over two dozen former Turkish generals, accused of being among the ringleaders of the attempted coup last year aimed at ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey blames the attempted July 15 putsch on the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a claim he strongly denies. But Gulen is one of the 221 suspects named in the indictment.
Gulen-who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States-is among nine of the 221 suspects who remain on the run with the remainder appearing in court.
The suspects were paraded into the courtroom inside a prison complex in Sincan outside Ankara by security forces in front of television cameras, AFP correspondents said. Several dozen protesters holding Turkish flags booed at the suspects, shouting “we want the death penalty” with placards saying: “For the martyrs and veterans of July 15, we want the death penalty”.
Twenty-six generals are among the charged suspects, including former air force chief Akin Ozturk and Mehmet Disli, the brother of senior ruling party lawmaker Saban Disli. Also on trial is colonel Ali Yazici, Erdogan’s former military aide.
The case is being heard in Turkey’s largest courtroom, which was purpose-built to hear coup-related trials and has space for 1,558 people.
There was heavy security in place, with a drone flying overhead and armoured security vehicles on site, an AFP correspondent said.
Several of those on trial are accused of leading the “Peace At Home Council”, the name the coup plotters are said to have given themselves on the night of the failed overthrow.
The charges against them include “using coercion and violence in an attempt to overthrow” the parliament and the Turkish government, “martyring 250 citizens” and “attempting to kill 2,735 citizens”, Hurriyet daily reported on Sunday. The attempted putsch left 248 people dead, according to the Turkish presidency, not including 24 coup-plotters killed on the night.
The trial is one of many being held across the country to judge the coup suspects in what is the biggest legal process of Turkey’s modern history.
The vast Sincan courtroom has already hosted in February the opening of the trial of 330 suspects accused of murder or attempted murder on the night of July 15.
More than 47,000 have been arrested on suspicion of links to the Gulen movement in an unprecedented crackdown under a state of emergency that was imposed in the wake of the coup.
Erdogan blames Fetullah Gulen, a U.S.-based cleric and a former ally, and his global network for orchestrating the coup, a charge Gulen denies. Turkish authorities have arrested nearly 50,000 people over alleged links with the preacher.
At the start of the hearing, families of the victims attending the trial screamed at the defendants, and one woman in the courtroom, whose son was killed during the coup, broke down.
“Kill these traitors, the murderers of my son,” she screamed before fainting. The judge called for a medical team to be brought into the courtroom.
From a total of 221 defendants, more than 200 are from the military and more than half of those were officers who held ranks from captains up to generals. All but 12 of the suspects, who are still at large, appeared in court. Gulen, who is among the defendants, is among those being tried in absentia.
Following confirmation of the suspects’ identity and the reading of a summary of the roughly 2,000-page indictment, suspects will be able to put forward their defense.
Hearings at the trial, one of the largest of several coup-related trials taking place across Turkey, are expected to last until June 16.
Citing the coup attempt as a grave threat to the state, Turkish authorities have also sacked or suspended around 150,000 civil servants, teachers, judges, prosecutors, police and soldiers and have shut down around 150 media outlets.
While the detentions may have been supported by some Turks in the immediate aftermath of the abortive putsch, criticism mounted as arrests widened to include groups of which many deny any connection to Gulen.
Many relatives of those detained or sacked since July say they have nothing to do with the armed attempt to overthrow the government, and are victims of a purge designed to consolidate Erdogan’s control.
The trial opened on Monday of more than 220 suspects, including over two dozen former Turkish generals, accused of being among the ringleaders of the attempted coup last year aimed at ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey blames the attempted July 15 putsch on the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a claim he strongly denies. But Gulen is one of the 221 suspects named in the indictment.
Gulen-who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States-is among nine of the 221 suspects who remain on the run with the remainder appearing in court.
The suspects were paraded into the courtroom inside a prison complex in Sincan outside Ankara by security forces in front of television cameras, AFP correspondents said. Several dozen protesters holding Turkish flags booed at the suspects, shouting “we want the death penalty” with placards saying: “For the martyrs and veterans of July 15, we want the death penalty”.
Twenty-six generals are among the charged suspects, including former air force chief Akin Ozturk and Mehmet Disli, the brother of senior ruling party lawmaker Saban Disli. Also on trial is colonel Ali Yazici, Erdogan’s former military aide.
The case is being heard in Turkey’s largest courtroom, which was purpose-built to hear coup-related trials and has space for 1,558 people.
There was heavy security in place, with a drone flying overhead and armoured security vehicles on site, an AFP correspondent said.
Several of those on trial are accused of leading the “Peace At Home Council”, the name the coup plotters are said to have given themselves on the night of the failed overthrow.
The charges against them include “using coercion and violence in an attempt to overthrow” the parliament and the Turkish government, “martyring 250 citizens” and “attempting to kill 2,735 citizens”, Hurriyet daily reported on Sunday. The attempted putsch left 248 people dead, according to the Turkish presidency, not including 24 coup-plotters killed on the night.
The trial is one of many being held across the country to judge the coup suspects in what is the biggest legal process of Turkey’s modern history.
The vast Sincan courtroom has already hosted in February the opening of the trial of 330 suspects accused of murder or attempted murder on the night of July 15.
More than 47,000 have been arrested on suspicion of links to the Gulen movement in an unprecedented crackdown under a state of emergency that was imposed in the wake of the coup.
Erdogan blames Fetullah Gulen, a U.S.-based cleric and a former ally, and his global network for orchestrating the coup, a charge Gulen denies. Turkish authorities have arrested nearly 50,000 people over alleged links with the preacher.
At the start of the hearing, families of the victims attending the trial screamed at the defendants, and one woman in the courtroom, whose son was killed during the coup, broke down.
“Kill these traitors, the murderers of my son,” she screamed before fainting. The judge called for a medical team to be brought into the courtroom.
From a total of 221 defendants, more than 200 are from the military and more than half of those were officers who held ranks from captains up to generals. All but 12 of the suspects, who are still at large, appeared in court. Gulen, who is among the defendants, is among those being tried in absentia.
Following confirmation of the suspects’ identity and the reading of a summary of the roughly 2,000-page indictment, suspects will be able to put forward their defense.
Hearings at the trial, one of the largest of several coup-related trials taking place across Turkey, are expected to last until June 16.
Citing the coup attempt as a grave threat to the state, Turkish authorities have also sacked or suspended around 150,000 civil servants, teachers, judges, prosecutors, police and soldiers and have shut down around 150 media outlets.
While the detentions may have been supported by some Turks in the immediate aftermath of the abortive putsch, criticism mounted as arrests widened to include groups of which many deny any connection to Gulen.
Many relatives of those detained or sacked since July say they have nothing to do with the armed attempt to overthrow the government, and are victims of a purge designed to consolidate Erdogan’s control.
