1980 coup leaders given life sentences in Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — In a showcase trial aimed at ending the military’s interference in Turkish politics for good, a court on Wednesday convicted the only two surviving leaders of the country’s 1980 military coup of crimes against the state and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Kenan Evren, 97, the military chief of staff who led the takeover and went on to serve as president until 1989, and Tahsin Sahinkaya, the 89-year-old former air force chief, had been on trial since 2012. They are the first coup leaders to be prosecuted in the country, where the military has overthrown three governments since the 1960s and pressured an Islamic-led government to quit in 1997.