Erdal Şen and Ali Sami Yıldırım, relatives of Turkey’s key coup suspect Adil Öksüz, have been handed down jail sentences of six years, three months and seven years, six months, respectively, on coup charges.
According to the pro-government Star daily, Şen and Yıldırım were found guilty of ties to the Gülen movement, which the Turkish government accuses of masterminding a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
A number of Öksüz’s family members have either been arrested or are still sought by the Turkish government. In July, his sister-in-law, Emine Sennur Sen, was put in pretrial detention, while his father-in-law was sent to jail early in January 2017.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed 249 people and wounded more than a thousand others.
Immediately after the putsch the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, denied having any role in the failed coup, but Erdoğan and his government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced on July 13 that 50,510 people have been arrested and 169,013 have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup.
Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 civil servants, including governors, judges, prosecutors, teachers, soldiers and police, since July 15 through government decrees issued as part of the state of emergency.
