THE trial against the alleged instigators of last summer’s failed military coup in Turkey has opened in the capital.
A total of 221 people, including 27 ex-generals, went on trial in a specially-built courthouse on Ankara’s outskirts, accused of being behind the failed July 15 uprising. They face life imprisonment if convicted.
The suspects were forced to march along a lane to the courthouse, as pro-government protesters called for the death penalty to be reinstated.
The main defendants are General Akin Ozturk, a former air force commander, and other alleged members of the so-called Peace at Home Council — a group on whose behalf a coup declaration was read on state television.
More than 100,000 Turkish public servants have been dismissed and banned from civil service through decrees issued under the state of emergency for alleged connections to groups listed as terror organisations. More than 47,000 people have also been arrested for alleged links to the coup.
The Turkish government said the purge is necessary to weed out followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed for orchestrating the coup, and to combat terror.
Human rights group Amnesty International has criticised Turkey for the dismissal of the public employees, saying the move has had a “catastrophic impact” on their lives and livelihoods.
In a 21-page report, they said the crackdown following the coup attempt has left teachers, academics, doctors, police officers and soldiers branded as “terrorists”, and unable to return to their careers.
They have been forced to rely on savings, the support of friends or family or to take on irregular jobs, Amnesty added.
Amnesty also said the dismissals have been arbitrary and links to terror groups are unproven. The purged employees have had their passports cancelled, blocking them from seeking employment abroad.
The government is forming an appeals commission to review the cases of those who say they were wrongfully dismissed, but Amnesty questioned its independence.
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