HUNDREDS FACE TRIAL FOR FAILED COUP
U.S.-based cleric also being tried in absentia
ANKARA • Turkey put nearly 500 people on trial Tuesday on charges of leading last year’s failed coup, parading dozens of men into a courthouse as protesters threw stones and shouted “Murderers!”
The trial is part of a postcoup crackdown that has imprisoned 50,000 people and seen another 110,000 fired from their government jobs. Many of the suspects Tuesday face life in prison for crimes including murder and attempting to overthrow the government.
The main defendant in the case is being tried in absentia, U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the Turkish government blames for the deadly July 15, 2016, coup. Gulen has denied involvement.
The other defendants include generals and fighter jet pilots from the Akinci airbase, on the outskirts of Ankara, the capital, who are accused of directing the coup.
During the attempted coup, F-16 fighter jets took off from the base and bombed the Turkish parliament building in Ankara, according to the state-run news agency, Anadolu.
Other jets from the base reportedly put President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plane in their missile sights but did not attack.
The trial, which is expected to last at least a month, is one of dozens underway in Turkey in relation to the coup attempt that resulted in 249 deaths. Some 30 coup plotters were also killed.
The government says the coup plotters used Akinci airbase as their headquarters.
General Hulusi Akar, the head of the Turkish military, was held prisoner at the base for several hours during the coup attempt until he was freed by loyalist forces.
He remains the chief of the general staff today.
Among the suspects is Akin Ozturk, a former head of Turkey’s air force, whom prosecutors say was one of the leaders of the coup.
Ozturk is accused of terrorism, conspiracy and treason but denies the charges.
Stripped of his rank and military titles, Ozturk was paraded into the courtroom in front of waiting television cameras along with 40 other of the most prominent defendants on Tuesday.
The group was made to march from their jail cells to the courthouse, which was built specially for the trial at a prison complex.
The alleged plotters were handcuffed, with two paramilitary police officers on each arm, and protected by armed special force officers.
About 300 people — including some families of those killed or wounded during the coup attempt and ruling party supporters — staged a protest at the site.
Some threw ropes toward the defendants, demanding that the government reinstate the death penalty and that those convicted be hanged.
Others threw stones or tried to break through police lines to reach the suspects.
One group of protesters tried to climb over a barbed-wire fence, screaming “Let the traitors hang!” and “We want the death penalty,” but were blocked by police.
A total of 1,300 security personnel were deployed inside and outside the courtroom.
President Erdogan and Akar, the military chief, submitted petitions requesting to be named as plaintiffs in the case, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
A total of 461 defendants are behind bars while 18 were freed pending the outcome of the trial. Seven others, including Gulen and an alleged top operative in his movement, are still wanted by the Turkish authorities and are being tried in absentia.