Istanbul Tuesday hosted its first trial on the July 15 foiled coup attempt with 29 police officers accused of involvement in the putsch blamed on Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). The trial is the second in Turkey, where those involved in the attempted coup face charges with dozens of military officers appearing before a court in the western city of Denizli on Monday.Police officers in Istanbul are accused of disobeying orders to resist the coup and membership of FETÖ.On July 15, military officers in several Turkish cities including the capital Ankara and Istanbul moved to seize power and killed 248 people who opposed their attempt to capture strategic places, including the presidential complex and the parliament in Ankara as well as a major bridge in Istanbul. Fighter jets, tanks and helicopters were used in the coup attempt for which officers loyal to FETÖ are accused. FETÖ, led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gülen, masterminded the attempted coup through its "imams", civilian figures and commanding officers loyal to the terrorist group, according to authorities. The coup was quelled thanks to strong resistance from an unarmed public, police officers and military officers not aligned with the coup plotters.Prosecutors demand aggravated life prison terms for 21 police officers charged with "attempted coup," while eight others face a maximum 15 years in prison for membership in a terrorist group.The hearing was held inside a courthouse located in a prison complex in Silivri, on the far west side of Istanbul. There was a heavy police presence with officers in riot gear surrounding the courthouse, while policemen with automatic rifles guarded the perimeters of the building where the accused have been held in detention following their arrests hours after the coup attempt repulsed. Reporters were not allowed to bring their cameras into the courthouse, as gendarmerie troops searched everyone at the checkpoint outside the courthouse.Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Orhan Çağrı Bekar, who heads a nongovernmental organization representing the victims of the July 15 coup including the families of those who died and the injured victims — said they expected "the heaviest punishment" for the defendants and would watch the trial "to witness (the punishment) delivered."Mehmet Sarı, the head of an association of jurists, told reporters that they filed to be the plaintiff in the case. "As a lawyer, I can assure you that the legal process is unbiased," Sarı said. Sarı said the trial and other coup trials will be an important milestone in the Turkish judiciary's history. "We expect an independent, unbiased trial, completely in the context of laws, without the repetition of past mistakes," he said. He said it was important that the courts separately handled the cases regarding the coup attempt, pointing out that the indictments against the takeover of the Bosporus Bridge, the two airports of Istanbul and other cases, so that the legal process would be better focused on the coup attempt.The trial, which will continue today, began with the recitation of the indictment and the testimony of two police helicopter pilots accused of disobeying orders on the coup night.Tolga Gültekin, one of the defendants, denied charges of disobeying orders by refusing to carry Special Forces officers to Huber, the presidential residence in Istanbul. Special Forces were sent to the residence to protect it as pro-coup troops sought to kill or capture President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on July 15. Erdoğan was in a southwestern resort for a vacation at the time of the coup and flew to Istanbul after he escaped an assassination attempt there. Gültekin said he was not given any official duty to transport officers but was summoned to the headquarters of the police's helicopter unit on the night of the coup. He said Ender Küçüka, another defendant, would have flown the helicopter but that Mehmet Tok, the chief of the police helicopter unit, called off the transport mission at the last minute after a phone call, after which he only signaled Küçüka to cancel the mission. He said the chief told him he canceled the mission because he found out the coup plotters had shelled a Special Forces headquarters in the capital Ankara and feared the helicopter would be shot down.Ender Küçüka told the court he was first ordered to transport Special Forces personnel to Huber and he asked for a written order, claiming he suspected the personnel he would transport might be on the side of the coup plotters. Mehmet Tok was yet to appear before the court as the hearing was still underway when Daily Sabah went to print.FETÖ, which attempted to overthrow the government first in 2013 with two investigations seeking to implicate figures close to the government in corruption and other crimes, is known for its widespread infiltration of the law enforcement, judiciary, bureaucracy and army services. Turkey has stepped up the crackdown after the 2013 investigations launched by FETÖ-linked prosecutors and narrowly escaped the takeover by military officers loyal to the cult thanks to a call to the public by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, who both urged millions to take to the streets to confront the pro-coup troops. Since the coup attempt, thousands of military, police officers and others linked to FETÖ have been arrested, detained or sacked from their jobs.The police officers face three instances of aggravated lifetime imprisonment and eight among them face lesser charges for FETÖ membership. The prosecutors also accuse the defendants of attempting to persuade their colleagues and civilians not to join the anti-coup resistance.According to the indictment, the defendants disobeyed orders to stop the coup plotters and some even cheered it.Police chief Şahin U., who commanded a police station in the Gazi district of Istanbul, ordered his subordinates to surrender to coup troops and never fire at them, according to the indictment.A search through the cellphone of Muhammet Işık, a police officer linked to FETÖ, found a message reading, "We've got news from the United States, there will be a coup against Erdoğan." The 'United States' in the message refers to the residence of Fetullah Gülen.İshak Erol, another police officer, wrote in a WhatsApp group of fellow FETÖ members that everyone should "prepare military fatigues." "We will be soldiers tomorrow," he wrote one day before the coup attempt.Another defendant is accused of concealing orders by a police chief to not surrender to pro-coup troops and of ordering his subordinates to obey the orders of pro-coup troops.In a related development, the Chief Prosecutor's office in Istanbul yesterday wrapped up an indictment against 75 soldiers involved in the coup. The fifth indictment against the coup attempt in Istanbul charges officers and conscripts from the Air Force Academy with participation in the attempted coup and asks for three instances of aggravated lifetime imprisonment. Pro-coup officers dispatched cadets from the academy to Sabiha Gökçen airport on Istanbul's Asian side on the night of the coup.Meanwhile in Denizli, the trail was underway for 60 defendants accused of the coup attempt. The first day of the trial was wrapped up on Monday with the testimony of Brigadier General Kamil Özhan Özbakır who heads the local military base where some 500 commandos left to fly to Ankara to help the coup plotters. Özbakır said he simply deployed troops to the airport for "a training exercise" and denied the charges.