Over 2,300 life terms handed in 270 FETÖ cases

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

A total of 2,327 defendants have been handed life sentences in cases related to the 2016 defeated coup attempt by the FETÖ in Turkey.

According to data compiled by Anadolu Agency from judicial sources, following the July 15, 2016 defeated coup attempt chief public prosecutors carried out over 100,000 investigations.

Out of 289 cases, 270 of them completed, a total of 3,838 defendants were convicted.

The Turkish courts ordered aggravated life sentences for 1,224 convicts.

Among them were 71 former generals, 829 former officers, 173 former noncommissioned officers, 50 former specialized sergeants and four former police officers.

Separately, 1,511 convicts were handed down jail terms ranging from 14 months to 20 years, while some defenders were acquitted in nationwide cases.

The remaining cases continue in the capital Ankara, Istanbul, and seven other provinces.

In July 2019, former Air Force Commander Gen. Akın Öztürk -- the key officer who plotted the coup inside the military -- Ahmet Özçetin, Ali Osman Gürcan, Bilal Akyüz, Cemil Turhan, Erhan Caha, Fırat Alakuş, Hakan Evrim, Kubilay Selçuk, Mehmet Dişli, Mehmet Partigöç, Omer Faruk Harmancık, Murat Koçyiğit, Mustafa Barış Avialan, Orhan Yıkılkan, Sinan Sürer, and Muhsin Kutsi Barış received 141 times aggravated life sentences.

FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen orchestrated the defeated coup attempt of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people killed and some 2,200 injured.