Ankara takes 156 military students, 8 officers to court

By Ahmet Sait Akcay

ANKARA

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Ankara opened a case against 156 Turkish military academy students and eight high-ranking officials Wednesday, a judicial source told Anadolu Agency.

According to the indictment in the case filed at the Ankara High Criminal Court no:17, the defendants were accused of involvement in the deadly July 2016 coup attempt that martyred 249 people and injured thousands, the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on talking to the media, said.

The military students were accused of being transferred from their academy to the headquarters of the commander-in-chief where they tried to block civilians from occupying the building on the night of the defeated coup.

The suspects were also “accused of trying to massacre civilians” and the attempt failed because the ammunition they were given did not fit the pistols they had with them, the source added.

Moreover, 37 of the accused were found to be using the ByLock messenger app, which is said to have been used by members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) during the coup bid.

The Turkish government says FETO was behind the attempted takeover.

The app is believed to have been cracked by Turkish security agencies before the coup, prompting the plotters to switch to WhatsApp messaging service but not before tens of thousands of FETO suspects had been identified.

Turkey accuses FETO, which is led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, of organizing the defeated coup as well as a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.