Senior managers, top civil aviation officials convicted over passenger plane crash

Eight suspects were handed jail sentences, including senior managers and high-ranking civil aviation officials, while 12 others were acquitted Jan. 6 in a trial into the crash of a passenger plane in the southern province of Isparta in 2007 that killed 57 people.

The AtlasJet plane, which was rented by World Focus Airlines, was traveling from Istanbul to Isparta when it crashed on Nov. 30, 2007, during landing despite no apparent technical problems or unfavorable weather conditions. An investigation pointed to pilot error as a result of a loss of spatial orientation, which itself was prompted by several procedural errors.

The general manager of World Focus Airlines, Ayd?n K?z?ltan, the company's training manager, ?smail Ta?delen, and AtlasJet Manager Yavuz Çizmeci were sentenced to 11 years and eight months each on charges of "negligent homicide."

A technician from World Focus Airlines received a prison sentence of five years and 10 months, while two pilots, Vedat Örs and Recep De?irmencio?lu, were sentenced to two-and-a-half years each for false testimony.

The court also convicted high-ranking civil aviation officials. The former general manager of civil aviation, Ali Ar?duru, and Deputy Director General Oktay Erda?? were handed one year and eight months on charges of "misconduct in office."

Following the accident, Ar?duru was alleged of being bribed by World Focus Airlines, which was accused of paying the civil aviation manager's hotel and luxury car fees.

All 50 passengers and seven crew members were killed in the accident, one of the worst in Turkey's recent history. Passengers included prominent nuclear physicians such as Engin Ar?k and Fatma ?enel Boyda?, as well as other scholars who were due in Isparta to...