Turkish court accepts Istanbul Gezi Park indictment

By Murat Kaya, Muhammed Enes Can and Mustafa Hatipoglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - An Istanbul court Monday accepted an indictment seeking life term for the defendants of the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Istanbul, according to judicial sources.

The 30th High Criminal Court in Istanbul accepted the indictment by the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office of the city, which also sought various jail terms for 16 defendants in the case.

The indictment recommended aggravated life term for all the defendants charged with "an attempt to overthrow Turkish government".

Among the defendants were Osman Kavala, a businessman, Memet Ali Alabora, a local actor, and Can Dundar, a journalist who is also former editor-in-chief of daily Cumhuriyet.

Kavala was arrested last October.

Alabora and his wife Ayse Pinar and Dundar are fugitives living abroad. Dundar was also convicted in another espionage case and sought by Turkish authorities since 2016.

Some suspects were also charged on the counts of damaging property and possessing "dangerous materials without permission".

According to the indictment, the defendants took a role in financing and coordinating the protests in 2013.

In summer of 2013, relatively small demonstrations in Istanbul’s Gezi Park grew into a nationwide wave of protests against the government that left eight protesters and a police officer dead.

The government later said the protests were an attempt to overthrow the elected authorities by the members of Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), who had infiltrated the police and judiciary.

On July 15, 2016, a FETO-orchestrated coup attempt in Turkey left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Turkey accuses FETO -- led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen -- of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.