A Turkish court charged eight more officers with plotting to topple the Islamist-rooted government in 2003, taking the number of those under investigation to 20, Anatolia news agency reported yesterday.
Prosecutors questioned the eight suspects, three of them retired, for several hours overnight before remanding them in custody in military and civilian prisons in Turkey’s biggest city, media reports said.
The Istanbul court handling the probe ruled on Wednesday that 12 suspects, also questioned by prosecutors earlier, should be kept in jail pending trial, Anatolia news agency reported.
However, the court also decided to release about 10 other suspects.
The military said earlier that the arrest of dozens of serving and retired officers was a “serious situation.”
The latest probes were launched as Turkish President Abdullah Gul prepared for a special meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chief of Staff Ilker Basbug at his office at 9am yesterday.
In the toughest action so far targeting the influential Turkish Army, anti-terrorism police on Monday rounded up about 50 military figures, including the former chiefs of the Navy and Air Force, Ozden Ornek and Ibrahim Firtina.
Among those remanded in custody on Wednesday were two serving admirals, three retired admirals and a retired one-star general, Anatolia said earlier.
The army said top commanders discussed the situation in an emergency meeting, prompting a warning from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) against any moves to influence the judiciary.
The probe has deepened rifts between secularist forces and the government plaguing Turkey since the AKP — the offshoot of a now-banned Islamist movement — came to power in November 2002.
AKP supporters say the Army, which has unseated four governments and wielded heavy political influence, must be forced to toe the line and stop meddling in politics.
Opponents, however, charge that the AKP is using the guise of democratization to discredit the Army, seen as the bulwark of the secular system, to realize its alleged Islamist ambitions.
The purported coup plot, codenamed “Operation Sledgehammer,” was allegedly drawn up and discussed in 2003 within the Istanbul-based First Army, shortly after the AKP came to power.
It was not known whether the suspects made any move to activate the plan, first reported last month by the Taraf newspaper, which routinely targets the Army.
The plot allegedly involved plans to bomb mosques and provoke tensions with Greece in a bid to force the downing of a Turkish jet, thus discrediting the government and leading to its downfall.
Army members are already among dozens of defendants in a long-running case against a purported secularist network that allegedly planned to foment unrest to provoke a military coup against the AKP.
The probe’s credibility waned, however, as police began arresting journalists, writers and academics known as AKP critics, sparking accusations that it has degenerated into a campaign to silence the secularist opposition.
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