Main opposition leader Kılıçdaroğlu plans visit to Ergenekon convict former chief of staff

ANKARA

Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will pay a visit to former Chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ, who was recently sentenced to life imprisonment in the Ergenekon coup plan trial, the party headquarters announced on Aug. 30.

Kılıçdaroğlu’s visit to Silivri Prison, where Başbuğ is kept, is set to take place on Aug. 31.

“He will say get well soon by visiting former Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ who is arrested and convicted in Silivri Concentration Camp,” the CHP said in a statement.

Başbuğ was charged with “attempting to destroy the Turkish government or attempting to partially or completely prevent its functioning,” according to the indictment. The verdict is not final, as the process at the Supreme Court of Appeals has yet to be finalized.

The Aug. 5 verdict, which decided the fate of 275 suspects at the end of a five-year process, resulted in hundreds of years of imprisonment in total and several aggravated life sentences for a series of the country’s highest-ranking army members, journalists and academics.