According to the Daily Sabah news paper, Istanbul's 4th High Criminal Court's acquittal of charges became possible after a judge ruled that the Ergenekon group was not a real entity.
Nonetheless, four suspects — Alparslan Arslan, Erhan Timuroglu, Ismail Sagir and Osman Yıidirim — were sentenced to life in prison for violating the constitutional order, considered the gravest crime in Turkey, equated to terrorism or a coup.
The probe into the alleged Ergenekon group's activity kicked off in 2007 when weapons were found in a private house in Istanbul. Later, prosecutors announced that the weapons belonged to some secret terrorist group called Ergenekon which was allegedly seeking to overthrow Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, headed by the then-prime minister and incumbent president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The investigation led in 2013 to several trials and a spate of grave verdicts against military officers, academics, journalists, writers and politicians. Those defendants were released in 2014, cited a lack of evidence.
The judicial maneuvers occurred after the public learned about the conflict between the AKP government and its former allies, supporters of US-based Muslim cleric Fetullah Gulen, who were said to be behind the persecution of the Ergenekon group. As a result, the 2013 verdicts were annulled and new trials were scheduled for 2016.
Since 2016, the Turkish government has accused Gulen and all affiliated organizations of attempts to orchestrate a coup in Turkey.
In particular, following the short-lived rebellion on 15 July 2016, thousands were arrested — among them state and military personnel, civil activists, journalists and teachers — tens of thousands more were dismissed or suspended over suspected links to the group. Gulen, who lives in exile in the United States, has denied the accusations.