Hundreds of protesters clashed with police on Monday outside a prison complex where the mass trial of almost 300 people accused of scheming to topple the elected Turkish government drew to a close.
Police used water cannon and pepper spray to disperse the crowd as demonstrators, including many relatives of the accused and army supporters, tried to breach the security barricade outside the compound in Silivri, a small town on the outskirts of Istanbul.
The 275 defendants of the four-year-long trial stand accused of having ties to an ultranationalist “terrorist network” known as Ergenekon and of trying to instigate an uprising against the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, in power since 2002.
A verdict in the trial involving top military figures, army officers, lawyers, academics and journalists, is expected within weeks as the defence wrapped up its final arguments on Monday.
Pro-government groups have praised the trial as a step toward democracy that will end a tradition of political interference in Turkey, where the once omnipotent army incapacitated four governments in 50 years.
But critics say the case is based on shaky evidence to take “revenge” on the Turkish army, the second biggest in Nato, which made no secret of its dismay for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic-leaning rule.