A Turkish court has jailed a former military chief for life and imprisoned scores of other senior figures in a high-profile trial of nearly 300 people accused of plotting against the government.
The five-year trial has been one of the turning points in a decade-long battle between the Islamist-rooted Prime Minister and a secularist establishment that ran Turkey since its birth as a modern state under founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
It's prompted tens-of-thousands of protesters, furious at the verdict, to take to the streets.
Kerri Worthington reports.
When the news came that former army chief and 16 others were sentenced to life in prison following the coup plot trial, angry protests erupted outside the court.
Thousands of protesters clashed with police in the streets, with police firing tear gas and water cannon.
(chanting) "Turkey is going through a dark period. People in a court must be 99 per cent innocent. It was a biased process and against the law. It was a political case and will cause more public unrest in the following days."
Retired military chief of staff General Ilker Basbug was sentenced to life for his role in a conspiracy to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The trial, in which 275 people were accused of plotting against the government, was seen as a key test in Prime Minister Erdogan's showdown with secularist and military opponents during his decade-long rule.
Akif Hamzacebi, from the opposition Republican People's Party, says the Turkish people will not accept this decision.
"This is a menace to the army of the republic of Turkey. If you are trying someone who has been the commander of Turkish armed forces for being a member of a terrorist organisation, it means you are targeting and trying the army of the republic of Turkey. This nation won't accept this."
Charges against the defendants ranged from membership of an underground terrorist organisation to arson, illegal weapons possession, and instigating an armed uprising.
Prosecutors say a network of secular nationalists, code-named Ergenekon, pursued extra-judicial killings and bombings in order to trigger a military coup.
The verdicts resulted in lengthy prison sentences for most of the accused, including serving parliamentarians, top generals, journalists and lawyers.
One those sentenced was Mustafa Balbay, an elected member of parliament from the Republican People's Party.
Another member of that party, Emine Ulker Turhan, was one of those protesting outside the court after the verdict.
(with translation) "It's a scandalous judgement. All the evidence is shady. The harsh sentences are shameful. All this oppression will increase the power base of the opposition and strengthen it."
The judges also passed life sentences on a former commander of Turkey's prestigious First Army, a retired gendarmerie commander, the leader of the leftist Workers' Party Dogu Perincek and high-profile journalist Tuncay Ozkan.
The Erdogan government has been accused of using the trial to silence critics from various backgrounds.
But Turkish government spokesman Bulent Arinc says the verdicts must be respected.
"This is a fact of the judiciary system that no one has any privilege to commit a crime. The court gave the best decision according to itself and we will see the upcoming phases. We are not becoming happy or clapping as anyone is being arrested but there is verdict and we must respect it."
The latest protests follow anti-government protests across the country in June.
The unrest flared when police cracked down on a peaceful sit-in against plans to redevelop a central Istanbul park.
It then snowballed into nationwide protests that saw millions of people take to the streets calling for the government to step down.
