Trials are underway across Turkey for members of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which instigated the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. Some 1,596 defendants will be back on the docket in 34 trials in 11 cities this month. Some trials cover the coup attempt that killed 251 people, while others are on trial for other crimes the group was involved in.

The terrorist group faced a barrage of investigations and subsequent trials after the coup attempt by its military infiltrators. Hundreds of investigations were launched against its members, while the courts had already had a backlog of trials related to the group’s crimes predating the coup bid.

Authorities have rounded up hundreds of FETÖ members, from high-ranking members to low-level supporters of the terrorist group, in the aftermath of the coup attempt thwarted thanks to strong public resistance.

In March, those involved in the coup attempt will have their next hearings in seven trials, while 27 other trials will proceed with new hearings. Some 1,182 defendants are standing trial in coup-related cases, while 414 others are being tried on charges of membership of a terrorist group.

The first hearing to resume was the Akıncı case in the capital Ankara. Some 475 defendants are being tried in the case named after a military base in the city. The Fourth High Criminal Court of Ankara hosts the trial. Military officers and four civilians accused of serving as FETÖ’s handlers for military infiltrators are being tried for their role in the coup attempt. They face multiple instances of life imprisonment and lesser prison terms. Akıncı was a major airbase in Ankara when the coup attempt unfolded. It was from this base, which was renamed following the attempt, that the plotters planned and conducted their coup attempt. This was where warplanes and helicopters took off to strike Parliament, an anti-coup crowd near the Presidential Complex and the headquarters of an elite police unit. It was also at Akıncı where the top military brass, including then-Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, were brought after they were kidnapped by putschists. By the early hours of July 16, 2016, few putschists were still holding out against anti-coup forces in the base. Strong public resistance, combined with a swift response by anti-coup soldiers and law enforcement, helped thwart the coup attempt and dozens of defendants currently on trial were detained. Others, like civilian defendants Kemal Batmaz, Hakan Çiçek, Harun Biniş and Nurettin Oruç, were either captured inside the base or in vast fields near the base as they tried to flee. A 713-page indictment by prosecutors says FETÖ started planning a coup attempt after the 2015 elections when the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party secured another victory. FETÖ repeatedly tried to topple the government on two separate occasions in 2013 though the 2016 attempt was the first time it employed military means. Prosecutors say Batmaz, Çiçek, Oruç and Biniş joined Adil Öksüz, the fugitive defendant in the Akıncı trial, to plan the coup attempt through military infiltrators. A large number of people, from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to army generals targeted by the putschists, lawmakers and families of civilians killed by the coup plotters, are among the plaintiffs in the Akıncı trial.

Tens of thousands of people were detained or arrested following the coup attempt, and a barrage of trials was launched against FETÖ, both for its role in the attempt and other crimes.

In another trial in Ankara, the new hearings will be held for 521 people, including former generals who were deployed at a regiment of presidential guards. In Kocaeli, a northwestern province where the Turkish Navy is based, the next hearing will be held for 19 military officers involved in the 2016 coup attempt. One of the major trials not related to the coup attempt but involves FETÖ members are about the assassination of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov. Some 28 defendants, including FETÖ leader Fetullah Gülen, are being tried for orchestrating the assassination in 2016.