Turkish Mugla province court on Wednesday sentenced 31 people accused of preparing an assassination attempt on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the 2016 failed coup attempt, to life imprisonment, the NTV broadcaster reported Wednesday.
As many as 47 supporters of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara believes was the mastermind of the coup attempt, were among the defendants in the case.
A coup attempt, which mainly involved members of the army, took place across the country on July 15, 2016. Most of the struggle happened in the capital Ankara and in Istanbul. More than 240 Turkish citizens were killed and over 2,000 wounded during the unsuccessful military takeover.
The Turkish government has accused Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic preacher living in the United States, of involvement in the coup and demanded his extradition to Turkey. More than 50,000 people were arrested and 100,000 dismissed or suspended from their jobs within the post-coup crackdown inside Turkey.
