ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Thousands of people have joined military wives to protest the trial of 196 officers accused of an alleged secularist plot to bring down Turkey's government.
Around 15,000 people gathered at the mausoleum of the founder of the Turkish republic on Saturday despite heavy rain. They shouted slogans denouncing the trial and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic-oriented government.
The protest comes a week after a court in Istanbul ordered 163 of the 196 high-ranking retired and active-duty officers accused in the alleged conspiracy jailed pending the outcome of the trial.
The government says the trial is strengthening democracy in Turkey. Critics say the trial aims to intimidate opponents and claim much of the evidence against the officers is fabricated.
