Turkey coup: Commanders jailed for life in first convictions over July plot

Turkey has jailed two commanders for life for their role in a coup attempt last July that threatened to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The conclusion of the trial marks the first time a court has passed sentence over the operation, which was launched on the evening of 15 July and crushed by the next morning. 

Staff Colonel Murat Kocak and Staff Captain Murat Yilmaz were on Thursday sentenced to aggravated life terms by a Turkish court. The court refused to reduce their sentences for good behaviour.

Kocak served as a regional commander of the gendarmerie paramilitary force, while Yilmaz was head of an operations unit in the gendarmerie, in the northeastern city of Erzurum.

READ: Full coverage of Turkey coup

The court found that both had been assigned duties as provincial commanders after the intended overthrow of Erdogan.

The accused were charged with seeking to overthrow the government, as well as being members of a movement led by US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, who the authorities accuse of leading the coup plot. Gulen, who Ankara wants to see extradited from the United States, vehemently denies the charges.

Kocak was named as the “Erzurum martial law” commander in lists prepared by the "Fethullah terrorist organisation", according to the Turkish Odatv website. The “Fethullah terrorist organisation” is the name given by the Turkish state to the Hizmet (Service) movement led by Gulen.

It was determined that both used the Bylock messaging system, which authorities say was used by Gulen followers until 2014. After 2014 they switched to another messaging app called Eagle.

The coup sparked a massive crackdown in Turkey with indictments prepared against more than 1,200 people across the country, and an estimated 41,000 under arrest in the most far-reaching investigation in Turkish history. Since the coup, the authorities have investigated at least 100,000 people.

However, Kocak and Yilmaz are the first people to be convicted of crimes related to the coup attempt.

Earlier on Thursday, prosecutors issued arrest warrants for a further 380 people suspected of involvement in the coup plot. 

The ruling Justice and Development Party on Wednesday pushed through parliament another three-month extension to the state of emergency introduced on 20 July to help it tackle the Gulen movement and to root out its members nestled within various organisations.

Allies to enemies

Gulen and his movement are accused of trying to infiltrate all mechanisms of the state over the last four decades, with the ultimate aim of toppling the constitutional order and replacing it with a theocracy led by Gulen.  

Some of the Gulen’s largest infiltrations of various state organisations are believed to have occurred during the 2000s when the movement and Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) were allies.

After a period of growing differences, Gulen and the AKP become arch foes around 2013 when allegedly Gulen-linked police and judicial officials launched a corruption probe into the activities of Erdogan and his close circle.

Four of Erdogan’s ministers had to step down as a result of the probe.

The government’s crackdown against the Gulen movement also led to frayed ties with its traditional western allies.

Ankara’s ties with Washington are now strained partly due to the latter’s refusal to extradite Gulen despite the existence of a treaty between the two countries.

Top Turkish officials have pinned their hopes on US President-elect Donald Trump, whom they see as more sympathetic to Ankara’s concerns regarding Gulen.

Ties with the EU have also suffered, in part because the EU qualified its condemnation of the coup attempt with calls for the authorities to maintain due process and not engage in any rights violations as it went after the Gulen movement.

It has frequently expressed concern at the ensuing crackdown, which has focused on the military and police establishments, as well as teachers and businesspeople.

The crackdown has resulted in more than 100,000 public sector workers being sacked or suspended, hundreds of media outlets being shutdown and hundreds of businesses being confiscated.