Turkey jails over 300 pilots, civilians for life over failed 2016 coup

A total of 251 people died and more than 2,000 were injured in the coup, a defining moment in Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s presidency and Turkish politics

There have been 289 trials into the failed overthrow, and the latest verdict culminates a trial that began in August 2017 involving 475 suspects

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A Turkish soldier patrols next to the entrance of the Sincan Penal Institution near Ankara, as a court handed down verdicts in one of the main trials stemming from the bloody 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:50pm, 26 Nov 2020Updated: 8:59pm, 26 Nov 2020

A Turkish court on Thursday jailed 337 former pilots and other suspects for life in one of the largest trials stemming from the bloody 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Muslim preacher who was once an Erdogan ally, is accused of ordering the failed putsch. His movement has been proscribed as a terrorist group by Ankara, although he strongly denies all charges.

A total of 251 people died and more than 2,000 were injured in what has turned into the defining moment of Erdogan’s rule and contemporary Turkish politics.

The country’s largest courtroom was packed with dozens of security personnel and lawyers and the presiding judge ordered one protesting defendant to sit down several times before reading the verdict.

He handed down multiple life sentences to disgruntled air force pilots who bombed the capital Ankara and civilians who orchestrated the coup attempt from inside the Akinci military base near the capital.

Court documents showed 337 defendants were handed life sentences for murder, violating the constitutional order and attempting to assassinate Erdogan.

Sixty suspects were given jail sentences of various lengths while 75 were acquitted.