Courts in Istanbul on Friday handed down life sentences to 160 defendants accused of taking part in the Istanbul leg of the Gülenist Terror Group's (FETÖ) coup attempt on July 15, 2016. All were military officers and cadets. FETÖ is accused of employing its infiltrators in the military to carry out the attempt which killed 250 people across the country.

Ten defendants were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment and 31 others were sentenced to life for attempting to take over the municipality of Istanbul. The suspects were convicted of killing 14 people who gathered outside the municipality building to prevent its takeover. The civilians were simply trying to convince the putschists to lay down their arms when pro-coup troops randomly opened fire on the crowd. Among those sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment were a colonel and his subordinates, as well as Mehmet Tunç, a senior official at the municipality's Civil Defense department accused of aiding putschists, and Gökay Atilla Bostan, a former Istanbul director of the state-run Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).

In another hearing, judges handed down aggravated life imprisonment to three defendants and life imprisonment for another 116 defendants. The three men were commanders of 116 military school cadets and all were heading to an unknown location to aid other putschists. Their military convoy that left the western city of Yalova earlier was stopped on a main road in Istanbul's Sultanbeyli district by a crowd of civilians and police. The convoy tried to disperse the crowd and three people were injured when the putschists opened fire. After resilient pressure from civilians and police, they were forced to surrender.