A conscript who worked as the driver for a colonel held hostage by pro-coup officers during the foiled July 15 coup attempt told a court on Friday how his "good-natured" superiors turned into ruthless men when they tried to take over the military base he was stationed at in the capital Ankara.In a written testimony presented to the court that handles the case of 27 defendants accused of the coup attempt, Esat Cebecioğlu, driver for Col. Ümit Tatan at the air base for elite army Special Forces, shed light on the fateful night at the base. Tatan was among the officers who opposed the coup bid blamed on officers tied to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), and he was held hostage and taken to another base by pro-coup officers.Cebecioğlu said he did not notice anything unusual in the hours leading to the coup attempt, but he found it strange when several officers - all defendants in the case -- stayed at the base although their shift ended on July 14. "I was deployed for patrol duty on the night of July 15, but Halit Kabil (lieutenant colonel who led the brigade of helicopter pilots deployed at the base) summoned me and a few others. He told us to escort Ümit Tatan from his home to the base. He then ordered other soldiers to load their rifles and get into position because there was 'a coup happening.' No conscript was ever given live ammunition before," he said. Cebecioğlu and others then took Tatan from his residence and brought him to the base. "Then Major Dursun Varlı (another defendant) took our weapons and told us to leave. Just as we were leaving, I heard someone shouting 'save me.' We ran to the voice coming from the runway, but the helicopter carrying him had left when we arrived," he said.The conscript said Varlı told them Tatan was "arrested," and when they asked why, another pro-coup officer threatened them. They were then given their weapons and ordered to "shoot anyone approaching the base, even if they are police officers.""All officers involved (in the coup attempt) had been very good guys and treated conscripts very well, but that day, they completely changed. I still remember how they acted ruthlessly," he said, as he described how one officer insulted them when they questioned why Tatan was arrested and tried to beat them.The coup attempt killed 248 people before strong public resistance, anti-coup police and military officers quashed the putsch. Hundreds of military officers stand trial or are scheduled to stand trial in upcoming hearings in the coup attempt cases.The case where Cebecioğlu testified was the first trial concerning the coup attempt in the capital Ankara. It is being held in a tightly guarded courthouse located in a prison complex where coup suspects are being held. Mostly lower-ranking officers are being tried, while top military brass involved in the coup attempt are expected to appear before courts across Turkey in upcoming trials.Elsewhere, a court in Istanbul ordered the release of 10 out of 43 defendants on Friday in a trial where pro-coup soldiers are accused of occupying the Istanbul branch of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on July 15. The soldiers who were released were mostly low-ranking troops.In all trials on the coup attempt, prosecutors ask for aggravated life sentences, the heaviest punishment available in Turkey, against defendants accused of "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order," while many defendants are also accused of "membership to a terrorist organization" in reference to FETÖ.