Retired general Engin Alan was sworn in as a member of the Turkish parliament Tuesday after being released from his prison sentence for involvement in the alleged ‘Sledgehammer’ coup plot.
Alan, who was elected to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in 2011 while awaiting trial, has now been released from an 18-year sentence along with other coup case defendants after the Constitutional Court ruled their rights had been violated. They face a retrial.
Attending the Grand National Assembly, the former special forces chief took his oath according to Article 81 of the Turkish Constitution. MHP leader Devlet Bahceli watched as Alan took his oath.
The Sledgehammer case saw 230 military officers jailed for an alleged 2003 plot to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The defendants claim the plot was a theoretical military exercise.
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