Turkey Coup Perpetrators Planned to Spring PKK Leader From Prison

A group of 12 Turkish officers, detained in Istanbul for participating in the recent coup attempt, allegedly planned to free Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan from prison, local media reported Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the Haberturk broadcaster, during interrogation the detained officers said they had intended to use inflatable boats to reach the island of Imrali, where Ocalan has been serving a life sentence since 1999.

According to the broadcaster, the final meeting of the coup organizers took place on July 13 in a hotel in Istanbul. About 80 colonels and lieutenant-colonels attended the meeting, although some of them later reportedly decided not to take part in the coup.

The Kurds, Turkey's largest ethnic minority, are striving to create their own independent state. The PKK was founded in late 1970s to promote the self-determination for the Kurdish community. The PKK is considered to be a terrorist organization in Turkey.

On July 15, the Turkish authorities said that a coup attempt was taking place in the country. The coup was suppressed by the following day. Some 290 people were killed and around 1,500 injured during the failed coup, according to the country's authorities.

Thousands of military officers, high-ranking civil servants, judges and teachers suspected of being disloyal to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have been detained or sacked in Turkey after the failed attempt to overthrow him. On Wednesday, Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in the country.