Hearings for the trials of the July 15 coup attempt, which the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) is being blamed for, are continuing with routine statements from defendants. Most of the suspects deny direct roles in the putsch bid, yet occasionally, the defendants offer a glimpse of progress in the cases which have apparently been frustrating both the judges and the prosecutors handling the proceedings due to the constant blame games being played by the suspects. Being tried as a pro-coup defendant, an admiral, who was the commander of a base in the western city of İzmir when the coup attempt unfolded, told the court that he traveled to the capital of Ankara to discuss a coup attempt long before July 15.He claimed that he did not know "the men who asked him to take part in the coup," though he confessed that they were likely linked to FETÖ.In another case, a soldier dispatched to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, told another court on Thursday that he and other pro-coup troops were sent to "take Erdoğan alive," though he failed to explain why he and the others fired at the presidential guards blocking them instead of aborting the mission.In İzmir, 270 defendants face multiple-life sentences on charges of attempting to seize power and membership to a terrorist group.Süleyman Manka, an admiral, was the commander of the Aegean Sea Region Command before he was jailed for links to the coup. Manka confirmed the testimony of a secret witness and admitted he held talks with people he claimed he was "not acquainted with" before the coup bid, though he denied he was willing to join the pro-coup junta.Manka said he was introduced to a suspected member of FETÖ through a psychiatrist he had been visiting three years before."The psychiatrist introduced me to a man who identified himself as 'İhsan.' He invited me to his home and told me that the army would declare martial law, though he did not tell me when it would happen. He told me I would receive orders to take part in it. I asked him some questions about. He told me to join a meeting he was holding with some people in Ankara. I accepted and we met three other people in Ankara. They repeated what İhsan said, but I then decided to reject the offer. If I hadn't, they would have given me more details. I don't know who they were, but it is highly probably they were FETÖ members," Manka told the court.Judges told him his testimony was not "credible" as Manka failed to explain why he neglected to question the identities of the people he met. The court also asked him why he did not inform authorities about the putsch bid after he refused to join the coup attempt, and Manka said he "did not believe they were capable of doing a coup."FETÖ's leader Fetullah Gülen and his aides face multiple-life sentences for the coup attempt and a string of other crimes. Gülen has denied the claims that he was behind the coup attempt, but evidence collected so far has unearthed links between key officers involved in the coup and the terrorist group FETÖ.Prosecutors say Gülen personally approved the coup plans, and Adil Öksüz, a senior figure in FETÖ, masterminded the plans in a secret meeting in Ankara with the generals involved in the putsch bid days before the plan was carried out. While Öksüz remains at large, Turkey is seeking Gülen's extradition from the United States.Gülen is also accused of attempting to assassinate President Erdoğan using junta troops that were loyal to him first before the government, but defendants claim that they are not linked to the terrorist group.Bahadır Sagun, a military officer who was among the assassins sent to kill Erdoğan while he was at a hotel in the southwestern city of Muğla, told the court on Thursday that they were ordered "to capture Erdoğan alive." Sagun said Maj. Şükrü Seymen, another defendant in the case being handled by a court in Muğla, told them their target was "Erdoğan" before they flew to Muğla from a military base in İzmir."When we arrived in [Muğla], a civilian ran up to the helicopter and helped us locate the hotel," he claimed, adding that he did not know who the civilian was. "I wouldn't have accepted the mission if [my superiors behind the coup] told me to kill the president."He said Gökhan Şahin Sönmezateş, a general among the defendants accused of masterminding the assassination attempt on Erdoğan, briefed them before they traveled to Muğla and claimed it was only during the briefing that he learned that they were part of a coup attempt. He said it was police officers guarding the hotel where Erdoğan was staying who fired first, and the assassins only fired back at them in self-defense.Murat Köse, another defendant in the trial of would-be assassins, said he continued his mission though he was told that they were part of a pro-coup team."I was afraid that I would be killed if I disobeyed the orders," Köse, a Special Forces officer, told the court where he is being tried for the assassination attempt and killing two police officers who were guarding Erdoğan's hotel.In Ankara, the trial of a group of Special Forces soldiers, accused of killing Ömer Halisdemir, an anti-coup officer, continued Thursday with the defendants parroting the statements of those who had testified before them.Halisdemir is credited with preventing the takeover of the Special Forces headquarters in Ankara by pro-coup troops and was killed by the accused defendants when he was shot dead. Gen. Semih Terzi was in the Turkish capital as the head of the pro-coup troops bent on invading the military base where he was deployed.First Lieutenant Mihrali Atmaca, who is accused of shooting at Halisdemir, although he was already fatally injured, blamed Fatih Şahin, another defendant, for the order to kill Halisdemir. Like other defendants who had flown to Ankara in the company of Semih Terzi, Atmaca claimed he did not know that they were part of a coup attempt. He said a captain traveling with them stated there was a coup attempt by a "parallel structure," in reference to FETÖ, and that he believed they were sent to Ankara to quell the coup. He said Semih Terzi was typing messages on his cellphone while they were aboard the plane and he had turned off the screen when he approached him. He claimed Terzi was using "something like Telegram" an encrypted messaging app. The trial was adjourned to March 20 while the court decided to hear Zekai Aksakallı, commander of Special Forces, as witness in the next hearing.FETÖ is led by Fetullah Gülen, a retired preacher who now resides in the United States. The group had begun to wage a campaign against the government a few years ago. Thanks to the terror group's infiltrators in the police, judiciary, bureaucracy and the military, FETÖ orchestrated sham trials to implicate senior figures on forged evidence and ultimately moved to seize power by employing the officers loyal to them in the coup attempt. A total of 248 people were killed, and many more were wounded in attempts to quell the putsch.In the aftermath of the coup attempt, FETÖ now faces a new wave of trials. A total of 1,235 lawsuits have been filed against the terror group since the attempted putsch. Out of those, 78 of the lawsuits are directly related to the coup.The coup trials alone have 1,986 defendants, with 1,232 of them currently being held in custody in 21 provinces. The first trials started last year in two provinces, Denizli and Erzurum, and more have followed since in Istanbul and capital Ankara.