CHP leader requests to be intervening party in key coup case

ANKARA

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Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has requested to be an intervening party in the key case on events at the Akıncı Air Base, considered the commanding center of Turkey’s July 15, 2016 coup attempt.

The petition requesting Kılıçdaroğlu’s participation in the case as an intervening party was issued to the Ankara 4th Heavy Criminal Court on Aug. 23, as the case continued with its 17th hearing, the Court Head Judge Selfet Giray stated. 

There are more than 400 plaintiffs and intervening parties in the case, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The trial on events at the Akıncı base on the night of the coup attempt began on Aug. 1 with a total of 486 suspects being tried. The suspects include Fethullah Gülen, the U.S based cleric who is believed to have masterminded the coup attempt, and civilians who are regarded as leaders of the Gülen movement in critical offices like the Air Forces and the Gendarmerie. 

The Akıncı base was used as the center of the coup attempt, where Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and other force commanders were taken and held captive by pro-coup soldiers. The generals and commanders were all later freed in a Special Forces operation in the early hours of July 16. 

The base’s runways were also bombed on the night of the attempted putsch in a bid to prevent F-16s used by the coup plotters from taking off.