Posted : Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:12:20 GMT
By : dpa
Istanbul - A Turkish court mahkeme Wednesday decided to formally charge itham etmek and jail tutuklamak seven senior kıdemli military officers, among them two admirals on active duty, in connection with an alleged iddia edilen plot plan to overthrow devirmek Turkey's liberal Islamic government. The jailed officers were among a group of some 50 serving and former high-ranking military commanders who were rounded up on Monday in connection with the alleged coup askeri darbe plot. Among those arrested were the former heads of the Navy and Air Force.
The arrests were the first ever in Turkey's history of such top-level officers, previously considered "untouchable"dokunulmaz. The powerful Turkish military, which sees itself as the ultimate guardian of the country's secular system, has stage sahne almak four coups since 1960.
Those arrested are suspected of being part of a plan drafted taslağını çizmek in 2003 - allegedly code named "Sledgehammer"balyoz- which aimed to create chaos and political turbulence kargaşa in the hopes of removing the government of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The plan, first revealed in documents leaked sızdırmak to the liberal Taraf newspaper, possibly included kapsamak the bombing of popular mosques and the ratcheting- up bir şeyi belli bir süre aralığı içerisinde artırmak of military tensions with Aegean neighbor Greece.
The Turkish military has denied the coup plot allegations iddia and has called the arrest of the commanders a "serious situation."
The arrests come at a time aynı zamanda of increased political tension between the Turkish government and its secularist opponents.
European Union-candidate Turkey is currently conducting yönetmek a trial into another alleged coup plot, known as "Ergenekon." Some 400 people, including journalists gazeteci,academics üniversitede öğretim görevlisi and politicians have been arrested in connection with that trial.
Critics of the government have accused it of using the coup allegations as a way of getting rid of kurtulmak its opponents. Devlet Bahceli, leader of the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) described the recent arrest of the high-ranking officers as a "state devlet crisis."
Government officials have denied that politics are behind arkasında the arrests, saying the investigation is part of an ongoing süregiden; devam eden effort to strengthen kuvvetlenmek democracy in Turkey and bring further civilian oversight yanlışlık over the military.
EU officials in Brussels called the coup allegations "serious," but also called on Ankara to conduct yönetmek fair adil trials.
Source:earthtimes.org