Turkey jails 3 army generals to 20 years in prison each

A Turkish court has sentenced three former army generals to 20 years in jail each for their part in the attempted failed coup last year.

Nearly 330 other officers, including some senior military figures, were also convicted for their involvement in the plot that took place in July 2016.
34 people were acquitted. All the defendants denied the charges.
The officers were accused of plotting to bomb mosques and trying to trigger a war with Greece in order to justify a military coup.

Meanwhile Turkish police say they are seeking 144 people including police, soldiers and prosecutors, over suspected links to the network of a US-based cleric blamed by Ankara for orchestrating last year's failed coup.

In raids across 42 provinces, 20 people have already been detained, the police said in a statement, adding that the suspects were thought to be using ByLock, an encrypted messaging app the government says was used by Gulen's followers.

Turkey accuses Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile for almost 20 years, of running a decades-long campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

On 15 July 2016, an alleged coup d'état was attempted in Turkey against state institutions, including, but not limited to the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The attempt was carried out by a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces that organized themselves as the Peace at Home Council. They attempted to seize control of several key places in Ankara, Istanbul, and elsewhere, but failed to do so after forces loyal to the state defeated them.