Turkey: Ex-Military Head Held Over 'Coup Plot'

A former military chief in Turkey has been arrested, accused of plotting to bring down the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and leading a terrorist organisation.

General Ilker Basbug, who retired in 2010, is the highest-ranking officer to be caught up in what has become known as the Ergenekon case, a long-running crackdown on Turkey's once all-powerful military and secularist establishment.

The general denied the charges, saying: "The 26th Chief of Military Staff of the Turkish Republic is being accused of forming and leading a terror organisation. I leave it up to the great Turkish people to decide."

Ergenekon, considered to be an ultra-nationalist organisation, is accused by prosecutors of being behind multiple conspiracies against Prime Minister Recep Erdogan's AK Party government.

Several hundred suspects, including retired senior military officers, academics, lawyers and journalists, have been detained in cases related to the network.

The decision to detain Basbug came hours after prominent Turkish journalists on trial over alleged ties to Ergenekon said the charges against them were "a massacre of justice".

Investigations into Ergenekon have spiralled since they first opened in 2007, and critics accuse Erdogan's government of scaremongering to silence opponents.

The government denies any such motives.

The arrest of a former military chief - unimaginable a few years back - comes as the government, which has won three successive elections, has sharply cut the political strength of the military.

Turkey's military, Nato's second-largest army, has long seen itself as the guarantor of the country's secular constitution, and had staged three coups between 1960 and 1980 and pressured another government from power in 1997.The alleged conspiracy was first reported in 2009, after a newspaper printed a photocopy of an alleged plan to damage the reputation of the government by portraying it as corrupt.

Investigations into the reported conspiracy were inconclusive because the original document, allegedly signed by a navy colonel, could not be found.

The probe was revived last year after an unidentified military officer allegedly sent the original document to Istanbul's chief prosecutor.

Hundreds of people, including civilians, retired generals and active-duty officers, are already on trial accused of terrorism charges - the military says 58 serving generals or admirals are in jail.Mr Erdogan's opponents say the trials are a government effort to intimidate them through the courts while the long imprisonments without verdicts and alleged irregularities in the handling of evidence have cast doubts over the legal process.

Last year, the nation's top four military commanders, including the chief of staff who succeeded General Basbug, resigned in protest against the arrests and prosecutions of military officers.

Source: http://web.orange.co.uk/article/news/turkey_ex_military_head_held_over_coup_plot

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