ANKARA: One of two ailing generals on trial over the bloody 1980 coup in Turkey defended on Wednesday their action as “patriotism,” as he testified to the court via videolink from his hospital bed.

“We did whatever was for the best at that time,” former air force commander Tahsin Sahinkaya said, giving his first testimony about the events three decades ago to the Ankara court, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Sahinkaya, 86, who is being tried in the landmark case along with former general and ex-president Kenan Evren, said he acted out of a constitutional duty to end the political instability that spilled into the streets in the 1970s.

But he refused to answer questions from lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the case, saying the court had no authority to judge “the big event that went down both in Turkish and world history”.

“Historical events can only be judged by history itself,” he said.

It is the first time Turkey has brought the perpetrators of a coup to justice and the two retired generals risk life in prison if found guilty of crimes against the state.—AFP