Protesters are blocked by Turkish soldiers as they try to march to a courthouse in Silivri, where a hearing for people charged with attempting to overthrow Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted government is due to take place August 5, 2013 (Reuters / Murad Sezer)
A Turkish court has handed down several life sentences in the ‘Ergenekon’ trial of nearly 300 alleged coup plotters, including for ex-army chief Ilker Basbug and several other ex-top brass, along with leftist party leaders and a journalist.
Only 21 defendants have been acquitted so far.
Turkish security forces were braced for large protests from the opposition at Silivri prison, west of Istanbul, where the verdicts were announced.
Despite bans for rallies being issued prior to the verdict delivery, demonstrators started arriving to the courthouse since early in the morning. Critics of Erdogan’s government, including the main opposition party, have described the trial as a “political witch hunt” aimed at cracking down on the country’s strong secularist traditions.
RT’s Irina Galushko, reporting from outside the prison complex, said local media estimated the number of security personnel at 10,000, with 13 water cannons having been spotted at the site.
Write: George Rizk 05.08.2013 14:46
Erdogan, an Islamist ran for office in Turkey as the West were so proud of that perish country as SECULAR country. The West did not make any noise whatsoever?
Actually, Erdogan is part of the underground cabal called the Muslim Brotherhood, which was formed by malcontent Egyptian in 1928, and was supported by the British and the American secret services.
T oday, the MB are out of power in Egypt, yet they occupy a small neighborhood in Cairo with trucks full of arms and ammunitions, torturing and killing people daily. They found money to feed 100,000 people daily? Who is paying?