Some of the handcuffed defendants were jeered as they were individually escorted into court by police and armed guards in front of TV cameras.

The trial focuses on events at the Akinci airbase which it is alleged was the plotters’ headquarters.

It is taking place in a purpose-built courtroom outside the capital Ankara.

The defendants face charges from attempting to assassinate the president to murder. As some arrived at court they were met by protesters chanting “We want the death penalty!”

Some of the demonstrators had relatives killed or injured during the coup attempt and threw nooses towards the suspects.

Rebel soldiers tried to grab power in July 2016, leaving 249 civilians dead.

Military chief Gen Hulusi Akar and other senior officers were held hostage at the base for several hours on the night that the coup took place.

The trial is the largest yet relating to the coup. Anyone convicted is expected to get life imprisonment.

Although Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2004, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed a referendum on the issue in his speech after narrowly winning a vote to expand his powers in April.

The president has been increasingly supportive of a reintroduction of capital punishment since the failed coup.

But the EU has made clear that any such move would effectively bring an end to Turkey’s negotiations to join the bloc.

Last July, orders were allegedly sent out from Akinci air base, north-west of Ankara, to bomb parliament as troops attempted to oust President Erdogan.

In the aftermath of their botched attempt, thousands of people have been arrested, many suspected of having links to Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in exile in the US.

Mr Erdogan’s critics say he is using the purge that followed the coup to stifle political dissent.

Mr Gulen – the key figure accused in the case – is among those being tried, albeit in absentia. He denies the charges.

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Source: BBC

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A faction of the army tried to seize power from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but the attempt collapsed.

Since the coup, the government has dismissed more than 150,000 employees from state institutions in a purge that continued until the anniversary’s eve.

It has rejected criticism, saying it had to root out coup supporters.

But the purge, as well as a wave of 50,000 arrests alongside it, have galvanised opposition.

Critics say Mr Erdogan is using the purges to stifle political dissent, and last week hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Istanbul at the end of a 450km (280-mile) “justice” march against the government.

Its organiser, opposition politician Kemal Kilicdaroglu, condemned the coup but said the measures Mr Erdogan had taken since constituted a “second coup”.

The president accused the marchers of supporting terrorism.

Huge rallies are due to take place later on Saturday, with President Erdogan addressing parliament at the exact time that it was bombed.

The day has been declared an annual holiday.

Mr Erdogan will also attend a rally in Istanbul on the bridge across the Bosphorus where crowds confronted soldiers.

The Turkish authorities accuse a movement loyal to the Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen, of organising the July 2016 plot to bring down President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Mr Gulen, who remains in the United States, denies any involvement. Washington has so far resisted calls from the Turkish authorities to extradite the cleric.

Istanbul is awash with giant anniversary billboards and posters showing people confronting pro-coup soldiers.

He and his supporters see the defeat of the coup as Turkey’s rebirth, but for others it is less triumphant, says the BBC’s Mark Lowen. He says the memory of the coup attempt divides the country.

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Source: BBC

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