FILE - Turkish Gen. Cevik Bir, then-deputy chief of staff, speaks to journalists during a meeting with a visiting foreign commander in Ankara, March 12, 1997. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday, May 17, 2024, pardoned seven former top military officers who were sentenced to life terms in prison over the ouster of an Islamic-led government in 1997. Those pardoned and expected to be released from prison later on Friday include Cetin Dogan, 83, who was head of military operation at the time. Former Gen. Cevik Bir, 85, who was deputy chief of military staff, was released along with other officers earlier due to ill-health. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File)
FILE - Turkish then-Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan greets generals after laying a wreath at the mausoleum of Turkey's founder Kemal Ataturk in Ankara on Monday, May 26, 1997. General Ismail Hakki Karadayi, Turkish then-Chief of Staff, is behind Erbakan. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday, May 17, 2024, pardoned seven former top military officers who were sentenced to life terms in prison over the ouster of an Islamic-led government in 1997. The main defendant, former Chief of General Staff Ismail Hakki Karadayi, died in 2020, while the appeals process was still continuing. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File)
FILE - Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Ismail Hakki Karadayi, and other top commanders, from left, Hikmet Koksal, Guven Erkaya, Ahmet Corekci and Teoman Koman, who formed the military wing of the nation's most influental body, National Security Council, during a crucial meeting on Friday, Feb. 28,1997. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday, May 17, 2024, pardoned seven former top military officers who were sentenced to life terms in prison over the ouster of an Islamic-led government in 1997. Those pardoned and expected to be released from prison later on Friday include Cetin Dogan, 83, who was head of military operation at the time. Former Gen. Cevik Bir, 85, who was deputy chief of military staff, was released along with other officers earlier due to ill-health. The main defendant, former Chief of General Staff İsmail Hakkı Karadayı, died in 2020, while the appeals process was still continuing. Teoman Koman was one of the generals involved with the 1997 ''post-modern coup''. He died in 2013. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File)
FILE - General Ismail Hakki Karadayi, then-Turkish Chief of Staff, smiles during a welcoming ceremony for President Geidar Aliev of Azerbaijan in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday, May 5, 1997. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday, May 17, 2024, pardoned seven former top military officers who were sentenced to life terms in prison over the ouster of an Islamic-led government in 1997. The main defendant, former Chief of General Staff Ismail Hakki Karadayi, died in 2020, while the appeals process was still continuing. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File)