7 ex-army officers sentenced in coup case
Seven former Turkish army officers received life sentences late on Oct. 10 for taking over an Istanbul government building and a mosque during last year’s failed coup, widely believed to have been masterminded by the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
They were convicted by Istanbul’s 23rd Heavy Penal Court for trying to overthrow Turkey’s constitutional order through violence as part of the coup bid.
The suspects had occupied a logistics center of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality along with a mosque.
The court handed down aggravated life sentences to former Maj. Özgür Araz, former Capts. Yavuz Selim Dayı, Muhammed Hayrettin Şahin and Levent Güngör and former Lt. Ayhan Bağdat on charges of “violation of the constitution.” The five ex-officers also received an additional 200 years in prison for depriving 18 people of their liberty through violence.
The court also handed down life sentences as well as 166 years and months in prison to former Sgts. Mehmet Türkmen Seyhan and Fatih Alkan on the same charges.
This decision is the fourth decision so far handed down by an Istanbul court against suspects facing charges for having undertaken in the coup attempt.
