UPDATE - Turkey: 21 get life sentences over ‘postmodern’ coup

By Baris Kilic, Zafer Fatih Beyaz and Serdar Acil

UPDATE INCLUDES DETAILS ABOUT PENALTIES

ANKARA (AA) - A Turkish court on Friday handed down life sentences to 21 people, including former military chief Ismail Hakki Karadayi and his deputy Cevik Bir, over the 1997 “postmodern” coup in the country.

Cetin Dogan, the then First Army’s commander, and Ilhan Kilic, the then National Security Council’s secretary general, were also among the convicts who got life sentences in Friday's hearing at the 5th Heavy Penal Court in Ankara.

Then-President of Council of Higher Education (YOK) Kemal Guruz was also sentenced to life.

The court also imposed an international travel ban on the convicts.

In addition, the convicts will have to visit their nearest police or gendarmerie station on the first day of every month.

They were declared guilty of forcibly overthrowing the Turkish government.

The court reportedly considered the age and health conditions of the convicts while handing down the sentences.

The charges against 10 suspects were dropped as their trial period had lapsed.

Four suspects died during this period and their cases were dismissed.

The defendants will appeal to a higher court.

The court also acquitted 68 other suspects.

In February 1997, the military was involved in the collapse of late Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan’s administration amid concerns expressed by generals about the government’s alleged Islamist program.

Erbakan's government was forced to step down following a National Security Council meeting. His Welfare Party was later also outlawed. A new civilian government then took over from Erbakan in a move that became known as Turkey’s "postmodern" coup.