Turkish prosecutors have demanded multiple life sentences for almost 50 alleged failed putschists charged with seeking to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a plot he says left him 15 minutes from death, state media reported Tuesday.
Erdogan, who was holidaying at a hotel in the upmarket Aegean resort of Marmaris with his family on the night of the July 15 coup, had rushed to Istanbul by plane to escape the conspiracy.
Forty-seven suspects -- 44 of whom are under arrest while three are on the run -- have been charged with 17 different crimes including an "attempt to assassinate the president", the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Prosecutors have sought six life sentences for each of the suspects, who include an alleged "assassination team" of 37 soldiers suspected of seeking to execute the plan.
No date has yet been given for the start of the trial.
Turkish officials say the plot to kill Erdogan was a key part of the plan to seize control, a plot they say was masterminded by the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Two Turkish policemen who were helping to guard Erdogan at the hotel were killed, according to the indictment.
- 'Killed in 15 minutes' -
Accompanied by close family members including his son-in-law, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, Erdogan managed to flee Marmaris and fly by plane to Istanbul where he oversaw the suppression of the coup.
"If I had stayed 10 or 15 additional minutes there, I would have been killed or I would have been taken," Erdogan told CNN in an interview on July 18.
Turkey has hit out at claims that the coup plotters' failure to eliminate Erdogan raises questions about the authenticity of the plot, insisting that the president was targeted by a potentially lethal conspiracy.
Some 37,000 people have been arrested following the coup attempt in a massive crackdown on followers of Gulen that has raised international concerns.
Gulen vehemently denies being behind the plot.
Trials are expected to get under way at the end of this year or early 2017 in the biggest legal process in the country's modern history.
Critics say a state of emergency imposed after the coup is being used to target any opponent of Erdogan, including those who unequivocally denounced the putsch.
Those arrested in the last month include Kurdish politicians and activists accused of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
In the latest indictment, prosecutors have asked for the former mayor of the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, Gultan Kisanak, to be sentenced to up to 230 years in jail for alleged crimes including 41 charges of "terror propaganda".
Meanwhile, a life sentence has been demanded for pro-Kurdish politician Idris Baluken on charges of membership of a terror group.
Baluken, head of the parliamentary group of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), is one of 10 of its MPs currently held under arrest including its two co-leaders.
Turkish prosecutors have demanded multiple life sentences for almost 50 alleged failed putschists charged with seeking to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a plot he says left him 15 minutes from death, state media reported Tuesday.
Erdogan, who was holidaying at a hotel in the upmarket Aegean resort of Marmaris with his family on the night of the July 15 coup, had rushed to Istanbul by plane to escape the conspiracy.
Forty-seven suspects — 44 of whom are under arrest while three are on the run — have been charged with 17 different crimes including an “attempt to assassinate the president”, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Prosecutors have sought six life sentences for each of the suspects, who include an alleged “assassination team” of 37 soldiers suspected of seeking to execute the plan.
No date has yet been given for the start of the trial.
Turkish officials say the plot to kill Erdogan was a key part of the plan to seize control, a plot they say was masterminded by the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Two Turkish policemen who were helping to guard Erdogan at the hotel were killed, according to the indictment.
– ‘Killed in 15 minutes’ –
Accompanied by close family members including his son-in-law, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, Erdogan managed to flee Marmaris and fly by plane to Istanbul where he oversaw the suppression of the coup.
“If I had stayed 10 or 15 additional minutes there, I would have been killed or I would have been taken,” Erdogan told CNN in an interview on July 18.
Turkey has hit out at claims that the coup plotters’ failure to eliminate Erdogan raises questions about the authenticity of the plot, insisting that the president was targeted by a potentially lethal conspiracy.
Some 37,000 people have been arrested following the coup attempt in a massive crackdown on followers of Gulen that has raised international concerns.
Gulen vehemently denies being behind the plot.
Trials are expected to get under way at the end of this year or early 2017 in the biggest legal process in the country’s modern history.
Critics say a state of emergency imposed after the coup is being used to target any opponent of Erdogan, including those who unequivocally denounced the putsch.
Those arrested in the last month include Kurdish politicians and activists accused of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
In the latest indictment, prosecutors have asked for the former mayor of the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, Gultan Kisanak, to be sentenced to up to 230 years in jail for alleged crimes including 41 charges of “terror propaganda”.
Meanwhile, a life sentence has been demanded for pro-Kurdish politician Idris Baluken on charges of membership of a terror group.
Baluken, head of the parliamentary group of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), is one of 10 of its MPs currently held under arrest including its two co-leaders.
