Erdogan Assassination Plot: Turkish Court Sentences Dozens

A Turkish court has sentenced 34 people to life in prison for attempting to kill President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Forty-six people were on trial for the alleged assassination plot during last year’s failed military coup.

The majority were ex-soldiers from the Turkish special forces, accused of launching an operation at the hotel where Mr Erdogan was on holiday.

The high-profile verdicts are the latest in a series of trials involving hundreds of alleged participants.

Exiled cleric Fetullah Gulen, who lives in the US, was among those on trial, but did not appear in court and no verdict was given in his case.

Turkey accuses Mr Gulen of being behind the coup, and many of those who have been arrested or fired from their roles have been accused of being among his followers. The Gulen movement is now considered a terrorist organisation in Turkey.

Mr Gulen, who lives in the US, denies any involvement in the failed July 2016 coup.

Outside the court in Mulga, supporters of president Erdogan waved banners calling for the death sentence - which was abolished in Turkey in 2004 when the country was seeking admission to the EU. Mr Erdogan has raised the prospect of its re-introduction.

A key development on the night of the coup was the attempt to capture - or allegedly assassinate - Mr Erdogan, who was staying at a luxury hotel in the Marmaris resort, south-west Turkey.