May 21, 2018•Update: May 21, 2018
By Adsız Gunebakan and Huseyin Kulaoglu
ISTANBUL
At least 15 Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) convicts, including four former Turkish military officers were given jail terms on Monday.
Former officers Brig. Gen. Murat Soysal and a Lt. Col. Hakan Cinar were given aggravated life sentence on the charge of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order.
Soysal was among FETO's so-called martial law commanders, who would have been expected to exercise authority if the illegal putsch had succeeded in July 2016.
Another former officer Lt. Col. Metin Gultekin was handed down 18 years and 9 months in prison for being a member of an armed terrorist group and illegally obtaining the classified documents related to state security.
Also, the court gave seven years and six months in prison to a former military officer for being a member of an armed terrorist group.
Ten other convicts were given aggravated life imprisonment while another was given life imprisonment for violating the Turkish constitution.
Former Chief of Police Mithat Aynaci was among the suspects who was given an aggravated life sentence.
On July 15, 2016, Aynaci was spotted in a tank driven by coup plotters.
The other suspects were former soldiers -- Lt. Col. Osman Akkaya and Fatih Sonmez, Capt. Serdar Degirmendere and lieutenants Bora Serhat Seckin and Burak Ulucinar.
They were charged with attempting to invade the Istanbul Police Department building on July 15, 2016, and martyring five people during the coup night.
FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, during which 250 people were martyred and nearly 2,200 others injured.
The suspects were convicted of being involved in the incidents at 5th Armored Brigade of the Turkish Armed Forces in Gaziantep during the coup night, said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
