Draconian sentences were handed out by a special court in Istanbul on Aug. 5 to a large number of well-known personalities, including high-ranking military officers, journalists, academics, lawyers, politicians, elected deputies and former security personnel. In a highly controversial case that lasted five years, most of the more than 250 defendants were charged with plotting to overthrow the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan by illegal means.

Those sentenced were also accused of being members of a terrorist organization allegedly called “Ergenekon,” the name of a legendary Central Asian valley where ultra-nationalist lore has Turks originating from. The case was opened in 2008 after 27 hand grenades were seized in the home of a non-commissioned officer the previous year.

There was initial public satisfaction over many of the early arrests in connection with this case, given the shady pasts of those who were being taken in. These included Ibrahim Sahin, a former policeman and deputy head of special operations who was implicated in extrajudicial killings of Kurds, and Veli Kucuk, a retired gendarmerie general who has been accused in the past of conducting a dirty war against supporters of Kurdish rights.

Also arrested at the time was Kemal Kerincsiz, an ultra-nationalist lawyer who gained notoriety for his hate speech toward Armenians and other Christian minorities as well as their Turkish sympathizers. Kerincsiz is accused by many in Turkey today of being one of the principal culprits who laid the groundwork for the assassination of Hrant Dink, the editor of the Armenian daily Agos, by a young nationalist gunman in Istanbul in January 2007.