Three former Turkish generals jailed 20 years over coup plot

By Press TV

Cetin Dogan, former commander of Turkey’s First Army, Ozden Ornek, and Ibrahim Firtina were initially given life sentences on Friday, but then their sentences were commuted to 20 years on the grounds that the alleged plot failed.
Dogan is accused of being the mastermind behind the alleged plot.

Six other generals and one former member of parliament from the National Movement Party were also sentenced to 18 years in prison, CNN Turk reported.

Hundreds of military officers were also found guilty of having role in “Operation Sledgehammer,” which was a conspiracy to trigger a coup against the elected government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2003. There were no immediate reports about jail terms handed to them but some reports say they got less severe sentences.

The court in Silivri, near Istanbul, acquitted 34 defendants.

The verdict wrapped up the two-year-long trial of 365 defendants, including retired and active army officers.

The officers are accused of plotting to bomb mosques and trying to trigger a conflict with neighboring Greece in order to justify a military coup. All the defendants, however, have denied the charges and branded evidence as fabricated. They also insist that the alleged plot was a routine military exercise.

The Turkish army overthrew three governments in 1960, 1971 and 1980.