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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Turkey interrogates top officers over alleged coup plot

Turkish investigators question senior military officials detained a day earlier over an alleged coup plot against the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

On Monday, Turkey arrested over 40 people, including former air force chief Ibrahim Firtina, former navy chief Ozden Ornek and other high-ranking officers both retired and on active duty in Ankara, Istanbul, the western City of Izmir and the northwestern City of Bursa.

They were arrested over alleged links to a purported 2003 plot, which was revealed by the liberal Taraf daily in January.

The daily published what it described as a document drafted in April by a navy colonel on blocking efforts by Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party from "destroying Turkey's secular order and replacing it with an Islamist state."

Turkey's two largest opposition parties slammed the government Tuesday over the latest arrests.

Main opposition leader Deniz Baykal questioned why such a massive operation was mounted against retired generals "watching TV at home in pajamas and slippers" over allegations dating back seven years.

"This is obviously a process of political score-settling," he claimed.

Chief prosecutor said he is examining whether the government is meddling with the judiciary, a move that may, in theory, result in a bid to seek the party's closure at the Constitutional Court.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119326§ionid=351020204.

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