After Six Years in Prison, Turkish Military Academy Trainees Released Pending Trial

Although belated, the glimmer of hope and a hint of justice emerges for some Turkish trainees who were wrongfully convicted in mass trials after the 2016 coup.

Air Force Academy trainee Furkan Cetinkaya is seen with his mother after being released on June 21, 2022. He remained behind bars for nearly six years.

Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals ordered the release of more than 66 Turkish Air Force Academy trainees, who were serving life in prison over alleged involvement in an abortive coup in 2016, overturning a verdict by a lower court in Istanbul.

After spending more than 2,150 days behind bars, the released trainees were reunited by families outside the notorious Silivri Prison in Istanbul on late Tuesday night. The Supreme Court’s ruling, although belated, marks a turning point in the turns and twists of Turkey’s legal politics that condemned thousands of people with different social persuasion and political affiliation.

Melek Cetinkaya, the symbolic figure of the families’ public fight for justice, shared the moment of reunion with…