Global Covid-19 lockdowns inflame violence against women
Issued on: 25/11/2020 - 

Demonstrators take part in "Las Catrinas CDMX 2020" march demanding justice for girls and women killed by femicide violence in Mexico City, on November 01, 2020. 

AFP - CLAUDIO CRUZ

Text by:FRANCE 24

No country has been spared the coronavirus, nor the scourge of domestic violence which has surged during lockdowns, as the world marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Wednesday.

From a spike in rapes in Nigeria and South Africa, increased numbers of women missing in Peru, higher rates of women being killed in Brazil and Mexico and overwhelmed associations in Europe: the pandemic has aggravated the plague of sexual violence.

According to UN data released in late September, lockdowns have led to increases in complaints or calls to report domestic abuse of 25 percent in Argentina, 30 percent in Cyprus and France and 33 percent in Singapore.

Pioneering the fight against domestic violence in China

02:14   

In essentially all countries, measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus have resulted in women and children being confined at home.

"The house is the most dangerous place for women," Moroccan associations noted in April as they pressed authorities for "an emergency response".

In India, Heena -- not her real name -- a 33-year-old cook who lives in Mumbai, said she felt "trapped in my house" with a husband who did not work, consumed drugs and was violent.

As she described what she had endured, she frequently broke down in tears.

After buying drugs, "he would spend the rest of his day either hooked to his phone playing PubG (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds) or beating me up and abusing me," she told AFP by telephone.

Insufficient measures

On August 15, her husband beat Heena worse than before, in front of their seven-year-old son, and threw her out of the house at 3:00 am.

"I had nowhere to go," she said. "I could barely move my body -- he beat me to a pulp, my body was swollen."

Instead of going to the police, she made it to a friend's home and then to her parents.

She is now fighting for custody of her son, "but courts are not working in full capacity due to Covid".

She has not seen her son in four months, though he manages to call her in secret from time to time.

It is not just the courts that are hobbled by the virus. The closure of businesses and schools, as well as cultural and athletic activities, have deprived victims already weakened by economic insecurity of ways to escape violence.

Hanaa Edwar of the Iraqi Women's Network, told AFP there had been "a dangerous deterioration in the socioeconomic situation for families following the lockdown, with more families going into poverty, which leads to violent reactions".

In Brazil, 648 murders of women were recorded in the first half of the year, a small increase from the same period in 2019 according to the Brazilian Forum for Public Security.

While the government has launched a campaign to encourage women to file complaints, the forum says that measures designed to help victims remain insufficient.

'Mask-19'

Worldwide, the United Nations says that only one country in eight has taken measures to lessen the pandemic's impact on women and children.

In Spain, victims could discreetly ask for help in pharmacies by using the code "mask-19", and some French associations established contact points in supermarkets.
Violence against women: Spain's fight against domestic abuse

03:36

"The women who came to us were in situations that had become unbearable, dangerous," said Sophie Cartron, assistant director of an association that worked in a shopping mall near Paris.

"The lockdown established a wall of silence," she said.

Mobilisation on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women remains uncertain owing to restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Marches for women's rights have nevertheless taken place recently in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Liberia, Namibia and Romania.

"We will not be able to demonstrate to express our anger, or march together," said the Paris-based feminist group Family Planning.

"But we will make ourselves heard all the same, virtually and visually."

Tamara Mathebula of the South African Commission for Gender Equality described a chronic "toxic masculinity" that was "everywhere you look".

"There are gender pay gaps which are widening and continue to widen during the Covid-19 pandemic," she told AFP.

"Gender-based violence worsened" as a result, she said, and the potential consequences were very serious.

In July, the UN estimated that six months of restrictions could result in 31 million additional cases of sexual violence in the world and seven million unwanted pregnancies.

The situation was also undermining the fight against female genital mutilation and forced marriages, the UN warned.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Thousands of Chilean women perform feminist anthem

Issued on: 26/11/2020 

Members of the feminist group Las Tesis, authors of the performance piece "A Rapist In Your Way," take part in a demonstration during the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in Santiago, Chile, on November 25, 2020 MARTIN BERNETTI AFP

Santiago (AFP)

Thousands of women gathered in one of Santiago's main plazas on Wednesday and performed the feminist anthem "A Rapist In Your Path" to mark the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women -- before Chilean police violently dispersed them.

Created by Chilean feminist collective Las Tesis and first performed in 2019, the song condemns men who attack women and is accompanied by dance moves.

Four members of Las Tesis led the performance, which has been copied and translated into different languages by women around the world.

The crowd was able to complete the performance only once before police deployed a water cannon to disperse the demonstrators from the Plaza Italia in downtown Santiago.

Las Tesis gained worldwide fame during Chilean demonstrations against economic disparity in 2019 with the street theater performance.

Earlier Wednesday, women's groups demonstrated in Santiago demanding an end to the male violence. Barricades were set on fire and a store was looted.

"We believe that violence against women is part of a structural state violence and of the neoliberal patriarchal system to which we are subjected in this country," feminist lawyer and demonstrator Florencia Pinto told AFP.

The demo was one of dozens around the world protesting violence against women, from Istanbul to Paris to Mexico City.

The demonstrations were given new urgency by an alarming rise in violence targeting women around the world since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Venezuela documented 228 femicides in 2020 -- 159 of which came after virus lockdowns began in mid-March, according to the Monitor de Femicidos.

"We are being murdered," a crowd of women protesting in the capital Caracas chanted.

A large crowd of women and their supporters also marched in Mexico City, including native women, trans women, and relatives of people who have been murdered or have vanished during the country's drug war.

"Let's not forget that while violence is what unites us, that violence turns into something much stronger which is dignified feminist outrage," one of the marchers, 27 year-old college student Luky Coutino told AFP.

pa-burs/st/ch

Mexican protesters decry violence against women


Issued on: 26/11/2020 - 

Mexican protesters demanded justice for victims of femicides on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 

RODRIGO ARANGUA AFP

Mexico City (AFP)

Demonstrators marched through the Mexican capital on Wednesday and scuffled with police during an angry protest at widespread violence against women in the Latin American nation.

Around 10 women are killed every day in Mexico and activists accuse the government of not doing enough to tackle the problem.

Holding banners, flags and placards, thousands of protesters demanded justice for the many victims of femicides on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

"Although the state doesn't do its job, we support each other as women," said 22-year-old student Ana Karen Resendiz.

"We look for a way to move forward and to stay well and alive."

Protesters marched to the city's main square where some faced off with riot police trying to stop them defacing the walls of the presidential palace and the cathedral with paint.

Around 3,800 women are killed each year in Mexico, while six in 10 women have suffered some form of aggression in the past decade, Interior Minister Olga Sanchez said.

"We have a historical debt to women, especially to victims of violence, and we cannot allow impunity," she said.

"Machismo kills, destroys the lives of women and limits our country's development," Sanchez added, speaking at President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's daily press conference.

Lopez Obrador for his part said that "conditions of poverty and economic inequality have led to these phenomena of aggression and violence against women."

Only half of all femicides in Mexico lead to a convictions and in some regions impunity is as high as 98 percent, according to the report presented at the news conference.

Protests against gender violence have multiplied in the past year in the capital and other parts of the country.

Last month a police crackdown on a protest in the resort city of Cancun against the murder of a local woman left several people injured and sparked national outcry.

© 2020 AFP

Schoolgirls urge world to follow Scotland on free period products

Issued on: 26/11/2020 -

Many girls miss school because they cannot afford or access sanitary products
LOIC VENANCE AFP/File

Stenhousemuir (United Kingdom) (AFP)

A group of schoolgirls who started a campaign to educate fellow pupils about period poverty want more countries to follow Scotland's example and make sanitary products free.

The Scottish parliament this week unanimously passed a groundbreaking law to make tampons and sanitary napkins free in all public buildings -- making Scotland the first country in the world to do so.

"I think we all felt elated that we had contributed to such a big change for the world," said Elle-Rose Fotheringham, 17, from Larbert High School in Stenhousemuir, central Scotland.

She told AFP she hoped "many more" countries would follow Scotland's example. "There are women all over the world who need free access to feminine hygiene products. This is definitely a necessity."

Fotheringham formed the group "Lady Business" with fellow pupils Meredith Rae, Tilly O'Donnell and Abby Reid after writing an article on period poverty for her school newspaper.

The four made it their mission to spread the word about the problem, addressing school assemblies and holding a rally outside the Scottish parliament.

They also topped up containers of period products in the school lavatories which were initially vandalised. That ended once the girls' message sank in.

Rae, 16, said she felt enormous relief when the bill was passed.

"We've worked so hard to get to this point," she said. "We've been doing it so long that now getting it passed was relieving for us."

According to a May 2019 survey of 1,000 teenage girls in Britain, more than half (52 percent) had missed school because of their periods.

One in 14 of these said they missed school because they could not afford or access sanitary products, the study by hygiene services company PHS Group indicated.

Globally, campaigners say the issue has a direct effect on girls' education, with a knock-on impact on work opportunities, thus deepening gender inequality.

- 'World-leading' -

The "Lady Business" girls had to battle to overcome the stigma around menstruation at school, despite indications of broad support for tackling period poverty.

"It was frustrating... because obviously it is not something that needs to be so taboo," Rae said.

"Since starting this we have worked and we have done assemblies, we've worked in classrooms and we've really seen a shift in attitudes with people, especially with younger boys and maybe even older teachers."

Lawmaker Monica Lennon, who introduced the bill, said Scotland's parliament had agreed that "no one should have to worry where their next tampon, pad or reusable is coming from".

"Scotland will not be the last country to consign period poverty to history but we have the chance to be the first," she said, praising "Lady Business" during her speech.

While the legislation is "world-leading", Scottish schools should also offer education to pupils to end the stigma of periods, she added.

The law goes further than existing provisions for free period products in schools in England, Scotland and Wales, and than measures elsewhere in the world such as the reduction or elimination of sales tax on the items.

Fotheringham and Rae are now preparing to study at university. Both hope younger children at the school will fight on to speak without embarrassment or shame about menstruation.

Lucy Clark, 13, who recently joined Lady Business, said she is ready to pick up the fight to get people talking.

"Maybe younger children find it like, 'eww, that's disgusting!', but I just think that it's natural," she said.

"Girls can't help that. They need products to be able to be healthy and be happy."

© 2020 AFP

 PINK MARTINI 20TH ANNIVERSARY

 

SYMPATHIQUE

Devil horns meet sutras in Taiwan's Buddhist death metal band


Issued on: 26/11/2020 - 

The gig began with a nun chanting on stage but suddenly erupted into a wall of noise unleashed by distorted guitars and screamed sutras -- the unique sound of Taiwan's first Buddhist death metal band Sam Yeh AFP

Taipei (AFP)

The gig began with a nun chanting on stage but suddenly erupted into a wall of noise unleashed by distorted guitars and screamed sutras -- the unique sound of Taiwan's first Buddhist death metal band.

The island has a vibrant metal scene but few outfits are quite as eye-catching as "Dharma".

The band aims to deliver enlightenment via the medium of throaty eight-string guitars and guttural roars.

Dressed in robes -- black, of course -- they use traditional Sanskrit sutras as lyrics. But everything else screams death metal, from bloody face paint on stage, to growled vocals, relentless riffs and double-kick blast beats.

Founder and drummer Jack Tung first came up with the idea 14 years ago after listening to a recording of Tibetan lamas reciting sutras.

"The way it's sung is like in metal, with some voice distortion," he told AFP, referencing the often throaty low nature of Tibetan chanting.

"This is very similar to death metal music which I like."

- Get behind me Satan -

On the face of it, death metal and Buddhism might not appear to be the most natural of bedfellows.

Early death metal bands -- and to a more significant extent their black metal cousins -- often revelled in Satanic and occult themes.

While many were simply trying to shock, some bands -- especially out of Scandinavia -- were committed Satanists or vehemently anti-religion.

But like any genre, the scene evolved to welcome a vast array of views and philosophies.

Miao-ben, the Buddhist nun who opened a recent Dharma gig in Taipei with traditional chanting, said she had no issue taking the stage alongside such music.

"Buddhism is not set in form. Having Buddha in our hearts is more important," she told AFP.

Unlike more dogmatic faiths, she added, Buddhism is syncretic.

"This is just another form of Buddhist sutra ceremony," she said of the set-list.

- 'Be respectable' -

Bringing Dharma together was not easy.

"I asked many people and nobody wanted to be in a 'religious' choir," laughed Tung, a practising Buddhist.

He decided to work on the songs first, primarily with guitarist Andy Lin, who also grew up in a devout family, and find remaining band mates later.

They sought the advice of Buddhist Master Chan Song, who provided interpretations of the ancient text and rituals.

Among Master Song's students was Joe Henley, a Canadian who moved to Taiwan 15 years ago and is now the lead singer.

"Buddhism has become a regular part of my life now," said Henley, explaining his decision to covert. "I want to do this right. I wanted to be respectable."

The band's first single "Sapta Jina Bhasitam Papa Vinasana Dharani", an incantation about peace and wellness, is currently being mastered at a Polish studio and will be released next month.

"We are getting a lot of attention, I guess because we are doing something new," said Henley.

"I am enjoying the ride, enjoying the experience."

- Evangelist aim -

Tung, who declined to give his age, grew up when Taiwan was a dictatorship and authorities heavily censored rock and metal.

The island transitioned towards democracy in the 1980s and 1990s and Tung devoured whatever he could find.

Bands like Guns N' Roses and Cinderella introduced him to rock while pioneers such as Sepultura and Napalm Death got him hooked on the more extreme metal.

Taiwan has since morphed into one of Asia's most progressive democracies with vibrant artistic communities and sub-cultures.

The island's most famous metal act "Chthonic", which utilises traditional instruments like the erhu alongside guitars, has toured globally and is fronted by Freddie Lim, a now prominent politician.

Younger generations, especially those in the cities, have embraced a distinctly Taiwanese identity and are less likely to be as religious as their parents.

Tung hopes to change that in whatever way he can via music.

"We have democracy and lots of freedom and we live in a very open society," he explained. "But social morality has declined".

Dharma's live act is deliberately infused with Buddhist traditions. The sutras are projected on screens so fans can read them.

Their face paint embodies the fierce looking deities found in many temples that fight evil spirits.

"You can't defend god by being nice and polite," said Tung.

Celine Lin, 27, came to Dharma's gig with a friend and was looking up Buddhist texts on her phone during the break.

"The music blew my mind," she enthused. "It got me interested in sutras and their meanings."

That is music to Tung's ears.

"If we can influence one person who came to see our performance... I consider the performance a success," he said.

Queen's Gambit accepted: Hit show sparks chess frenzy



Issued on: 26/11/2020 - 

Netflix miniseries 'The Queen's Gambit' has been credited with sparking an unprecedented interest in chess 

Jewel SAMAD AFP


Sydney (Australia) (AFP)

Hit miniseries "The Queen's Gambit" has led to a surge of interest in chess, with one popular website registering millions of new players and academies reporting unprecedented demand.

Netflix said the show, which follows the turbulent career of a fictional female child prodigy in the 1950s and 1960s, has become its most-watched ever and is currently the number-one ranked programme in 63 countries.

Gaming site Chess.com said the series had prompted a wave of interest -- already piqued by the pandemic and top-flight chess players appearing on the Twitch gaming platform -- with new daily registrations up 400 percent.

"Since the release of 'The Queen's Gambit' we have seen roughly 2.5 million new members join," the website's Nick Barton told AFP.

"Nearly each day of November we've set a new company record for the most members joining."

Worldwide, Google reported searches for "chess" are at their highest level in 14 years.

It is just the latest burst of popularity for a game that is believed to have originated in India in the seventh century and was played -- and occasionally banned -- by medieval European kings, before becoming more established in the late 1800s.

In modern times, chess had a resurgence during the Cold War.

That period forms the backdrop for "The Queen's Gambit", and the story of a youthful American taking on a wily Soviet grandmaster is inspiring another generation of players.

"There has been a massive surge in adults interested," according to chess master and Sydney Academy of Chess director Brett Tindall, who called it "unprecedented".

Tindall told AFP he has fielded calls from 40-50 adults looking for lessons in the last few weeks, and when carrying academy-branded kit he reports being stopped in the street and asked his opinion about the series.

- More women playing -

On school visits, normally ambivalent teachers have gone out of their way to approach him, and some students are tuning in too -- even though the series features heavy alcohol and drug abuse.

"I was at a school this morning, and few kids were talking about it, and I was like: 'guys, I don't think you're really meant to be watching this show'," he said.

Chess.com's Barton said the show's focus on female lead Beth Harmon -- played by Anya Taylor-Joy -- had prompted more women to register than usual.

They were now also spending more time on the site than men.

"These shows really help to increase the curiosity value and newcomers are attracted to the game," Vijay Deshpande, secretary of the All India Chess Federation, told AFP.

"We have a lot of good chess players in the country and the number has grown during the lockdown. Young people are hooked to technology and they were attracted to online chess."

Grandmaster and former US champion Jennifer Shahade has said she "loved" the show and had been inundated with people asking her for lessons or tips.

"I'm honestly just blown away by all the positive attention chess is getting right now. People get us in a way they haven't before," she said on a recent podcast.

"Chess is something people need right now -- the introspection, the delightful escape into a smaller world of 64 squares," she said.

According to Tindall, the interest goes beyond just the game.

The series' opulent settings, Cold War kitsch and period chess equipment seem to have captured people's imagination.

"We sell lots of different types of (chess) clocks. I have a lot of older style clocks and recently people want to get the clocks from the show... I'm not joking," said Tindall.

"A while ago, we were just trying to clear them out. They aren't really used in competitions any more. We use digital ones."

Most chess commentators have given the show high marks for authenticity -- perhaps unsurprising, given Russian grandmaster Garry Kasparov and US chess author Bruce Pandolfini were consultants.

"It's the best thing I've seen about chess," said French grandmaster Anthony Wirig during an online event about the show.

The "Queen's Gambit" of the title refers to a popular opening that offers a white pawn as a barbed lure to black, which can accept or decline.

Australian grandmaster Ian Rogers said the lead character Beth Harmon resembles US prodigy Bobby Fischer, who also faced a formidable Soviet opponent.

Fischer's politically tinged matches against the USSR's Boris Spassky were watched on television by millions.

"However Harmon's struggles with pills and alcohol are all her own," Rogers told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"Nowadays Harmon would be banned by WADA's drug testers long before she reached the top."

© 2020 AFP

Disney to lay off 32,000 workers in 2021

Issued on: 26/11/2020 -

Disney, which had previously said it would cut 28,000 jobs without specifying when, has struggled with the pandemic and social distancing measures

 Frederic J. BROWN AFP

Los Angeles (AFP)

Disney said Thursday it will cut 32,000 jobs in 2021, primarily from its US theme parks division, an increase from layoffs announced in September.

The company, which previously said it would cut 28,000 jobs, has struggled with the pandemic and social restrictions.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the cuts -- which Variety reported are part of September's announcement -- would be made in the first half of next year.


"Due to the current climate, including COVID-19 impacts, and changing environment in which we are operating, the Company has generated efficiencies in its staffing, including limiting hiring to critical business roles, furloughs and reductions-in-force," Disney said in a filing explaining the job losses.

The majority of the terminations would be in "Parks, Experiences and Products" it added.

Additionally, around 37,000 employees were placed on furlough from October 3, Variety reported.

Disney employs around 203,000 people globally, with around 20 percent part-time workers, according to CNBC.

Drawing millions of tourists each year, Disneyland in Anaheim near Los Angeles is the world's second-most visited theme park, after the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

But unlike the Disney theme parks in Florida, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Paris, the Anaheim resort has so far been unable to reopen due to the state's coronavirus restrictions.

The move comes on the heels of Disney's $4.7 billion loss in the most recent quarter, which reflected the hit to its theme park business and the derailment or postponement of major movie releases.

© 2020 AFP

Azerbaijan reclaims second district returned by Armenia 

under ceasefire deal

Issued on: 26/11/2020 -

Text by: NEWS WIRES|

Video by: Catherine NORRIS-TREN

Azerbaijani soldiers and military trucks rolled into the district of Kalbajar on Wednesday, reclaiming the second of three regions Armenia is handing back under a deal that ended weeks of fighting.

Images released by Azerbaijan’s defence ministry showed troops deploying into the district overnight, some scanning for landmines on snow-covered roads.

The district is among those being handed back by Armenia after it agreed to a peace deal ending six weeks of clashes over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Kalbajar, wedged between Karabakh and the territory of Armenia, was initially scheduled for handover on November 15 but Azerbaijan pushed back the deadline for humanitarian reasons.

Armenia agreed to hand back three districts around Karabakh – Aghdam, Kalbajar and Lachin – as part of the deal that stopped an Azerbaijani offensive that had reclaimed swathes of territory lost to Armenian separatists in a 1990s war.

Aghdam was ceded on November 20 and Lachin is to be handed over by December 1.

Near the village of Cherektar on the edges of Kalbajar, Armenian soldiers were setting up a checkpoint with stacks of tyres blocking the road.

Holding a Kalashnikov rifle and with a white cross drawn on the front of his camouflage uniform, 20-year-old soldier Armen Shakhnazaryan said it was a shame for Armenia to lose the district.

“We have a lot of churches here,” Shakhnazaryan told AFP. “Our ancestors, our elders and our friends are buried here.”

Kalbajar ‘liberated’

In a televised address on Wednesday, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev congratulated his people, saying Kalbajar had been “liberated”.

He said historic monuments in the district including churches and mosques were considered “historical treasures” by mainly Muslim Azerbaijan and would be preserved.

Azerbaijanis who fled the region nearly 30 years ago are expected to return as Armenians left en masse.

In the days before the handover, Kalbajar residents packed all they could take, determined to leave nothing for their longtime foes.

Locals collected electric cables, loaded parts of a hydroelectric power station into a truck and even cut down trees to take with them as they left.

But 22-year-old Gevorg Vanyan – who works at a gas station in the village of Getavan in a district bordering Kalbajar – said he will not leave even if it was “very dangerous” to stay.

“Never in my life could I imagine that life could change like this... But we have lived here and will live here,” Vanyan told AFP.

Clashes between the ex-Soviet rivals over Nagorno-Karabakh broke out in late September, reigniting a long-simmering conflict over the mountainous region.

The ethnic Armenian enclave broke away from Azerbaijani control in the 1990s war and declared independence, though this was never internationally recognised.

The peace deal was reached after Azerbaijan’s military overwhelmed Armenian separatist forces and threatened to advance on Karabakh’s main city Stepanakert.

Under the agreement, Armenia is losing control of seven districts seized during the post-Soviet war in the 1990s, which killed 30,000 people and displaced many Azerbaijanis that used to live there.

The separatists are retaining control over most of Karabakh’s Soviet-era territory and some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have deployed along frontline areas and to protect the Lachin corridor, which connects Karabakh with Armenia.

Other Armenians have meanwhile been returning to Karabakh itself.

Russia said on Wednesday it had helped more than 15,000 people to return from Armenia after they had fled the fighting, which left thousands dead including more than 100 civilians.

Azerbaijan probing war crimes

Moscow’s role in halting the fighting has stolen the spotlight from France and the United States, who together with Russia form the so-called Minsk Group of negotiators that brokered an unstable ceasefire in the 1990s.

The three countries attempted three separate ceasefires during the recent fighting, all of which collapsed as Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of violations.

Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general meanwhile said Wednesday the country was investigating allegations of war crimes against both sides.

Videos circulated on social media during the fighting that allegedly showed executions of Armenian prisoners of war by Azerbaijani troops and Armenian soldiers defiling the bodies of Azerbaijani servicemen.

“There are many fake videos. But we must say frankly that there also are videos which could be authentic,” Kamran Aliyev told AFP in an interview. “Azerbaijan is a law-based state and we are reacting to such facts.”

(AFP)

Dozens jailed for life over Turkey's 2016 coup

ERDOGAN'S FALSE FLAG OPERATION

Issued on: 26/11/2020 - 

Crowds and soldiers faced off in major Turkish cities including capital Ankara during the 2016 coup attempt 

ADEM ALTAN AFP/Fil


Ankara (AFP)

A Turkish court jailed 27 former pilots and other suspects for life in one of the largest trials stemming from the bloody 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Muslim preacher who was once an Erdogan ally, is accused of ordering the failed putsch. His movement has been proscribed as a terrorist group by Ankara, although he strongly denies all charges.

A total of 251 people died and more than 2,000 were injured in what has turned into the defining moment of Erdogan's rule and contemporary Turkish politics.

The country's largest courtroom was packed with dozens of security personnel and lawyers and the presiding judge ordered one protesting defendent to "Sit down!" several times before reading the verdict.

He handed down multiple life sentences to disgruntled air force pilots who bombed the capital Ankara and civilians who orchestrated the coup attempt from inside the Akinci military base near the capital.

- 'Justice has been served' -

They were convicted of crimes including murder, attempting to violate the constitutional order and attempting to assassinate Erdogan.

"Justice has been served," Ufuk Yegin, who represents a victims' families association, told AFP after the verdict was read.

"We believe the punishments were given in accordance with existing laws."

The then chief of staff general Hulusi Akar -- now the defence minister -- and other top commanders were held hostage at the military base for one night before their rescue on the morning of July 16.

The parliament was hit thrice by F-16 fighter jets, as was the road near the presidential palace and the headquarters of the special forces and the Ankara police.

Erdogan was on vacation in southern Turkey at the time.

The bombs killed 68 people in the capital and injured more than 200. Nine civilians also died trying to stop the plotters at the entrance to the base.

Gulen, Adil Oksuz -- a theology lecturer whom officials claim was a key coordinator of what was happening on the ground -- and four others are being tried in absentia.

Oksuz was detained shortly after the coup bid but released later and is now on the run.

- 2,500 life sentences -

Thursday's verdicts culminates a trial that began in August 2017 and involves a total of 475 suspects.

More of them are expected to be jailed when the full verdict is published, possibly later Thursday.

The Anadolu state news agency said 365 were already being held in pre-trial detention.

Businessman Kemal Batmaz, accused of assisting Oksuz, was among four suspects sentenced to 79 aggravated life sentences over their alleged management of the coup bid.

An aggravated life sentence has tougher terms of detention and replaced the death penalty after it was abolished in 2004 as part of Turkey's drive to join the European Union.

The putsch bid was stamped out quickly, but its legacy still haunts Turkey.

A fierce government crackdown that followed has muzzled the media and seen tens of thousands arrested in nationwide raids.

More than 100,000 public sector employees, including teachers and judges, were sacked or suspended because of their suspected links to Gulen.

These arrests continue, although they are less sweeping.

Despite the large number of suspects, it is not the biggest coup-related trial. Some 521 suspects are on trial in a case focused on the presidential guard's activities.

There have been 289 trials into the failed overthrow of Erdogan and 10 continue, Anadolu reported.

More than 2,500 aggravated and standard life sentences have been issued by Turkish courts, with judges convicting 4,154 coup suspects since July 2016.

© 2020 AFP