An Ankara court on Tuesday released from pretrial detention 43 students of the Air Force Academy who were arrested on charges of involvement in a failed coup in Turkey on July 15, 2016.
The students are standing trial as part of an investigation into the Gülen movement, which is pejoratively labeled by the government as “FETÖ” to denounce it as a terrorist organization. The movement is accused of masterminding the coup despite the lack of any supporting evidence.
An intelligence report released by the European Union last week stated that the claims of the Turkish government regarding the attempted coup are not substantiated.
As part of a post-coup purge, over 40,000 people have been arrested and one-third of the Turkish military has been dismissed.