Over 100 arrested in Turkey attempted coup

[Dig]

More charged in alleged Turkish coup plot, 13 freed
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gue_wjFp-n1hKcKz7hjpfHDAPxkQ
3 days ago

ISTANBUL (AFP) — Eleven people were charged by an Istanbul court Sunday in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow Turkey's Islamist-rooted conservative government and held in custody.

They formed part of a group of 33 people detained Wednesday in a nationwide swoop as part of an investigation into the "Ergenekon" network, suspected of laying the groundwork for a putsch to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Thirteen other people held in the operation Wednesday were released. Among them were two retired four star generals and a former senior official in the national security council.

A total of 15 people have now been charged, four of them -- all army officers -- on Saturday.

The rest are still being questioned.

Among those charged and detained Sunday was former police chief Ibrahim Sahin, who was the centre of a corruption controversy in the 1990s, the Anatolia news agency said.

Erdogan Sunday called on the secularist opposition, which suspects the government of seeking to muzzle criticism and discredit the armed forces, to let investigators do their work.

"There are in this country magistrates and prosecutors who have a free conscience," he said.

"Nobody should think themselves above justice," he told a meeting of his ruling AK party.

He called on politicians to stay out of legal matters, saying that Turkish democracy would emerge strengthened from the investigation.

Police Friday unearthed in a forest in a suburb of Istanbul two light anti-tank weapons, 10 hand grenades, bullets and explosives after anti-terrorist police using metal detectors and sniffer dogs dug up the area on the basis of documents seized from Sahin.

They were shown Sunday to reporters but it was not clear whether they were intended for a coup or dated back to the period when Sahin was implicated in a murky scandal involving civil and military intelligence and the criminal underworld.

Further digging in other places found nothing.

In October, 86 people -- retired army officers, politicians, journalists and underworld figures -- went on trial, accused of belonging to a terrorist organisation and of plotting to topple the AKP government.

The probe initially received support for countering the so-called "deep state" -- a term used to describe security forces acting outside the law, often in collusion with the underworld, to protect what they see as Turkey's best interests.

But the probe's credibility has been increasingly questioned after it began targeting journalists, academics, intellectuals and retired generals, known as vocal government critics.

[Dig]

Turkish judges compare Ergenekon probe to Hitler era
http://www.emportal.rs/en/news/region/75568.print.html
14. January 2009. | 08:30

Source: SEtimes.com


A total of 86 suspected Ergenekon members are currently on trial for allegedly plotting a coup d'etat.

 The country's Judges' and Prosecutors' Association (YARSAV) harshly criticised the government over the ongoing probe into the shadowy secularist group Ergenekon, comparing the situation to "the eras of Hitler and Mussolini".

The investigation should be objective, not marred by political influence, the association said in a statement.

"Turkey is not, cannot be and will not be a police state," YARSAV head Omer Faruk Eminagaoglu told a press conference.

A total of 86 suspected Ergenekon members are currently on trial for allegedly plotting a coup d'etat.

Also Monday, police found another cache of explosives and ammunition allegedly linked to the Ergenekon group.

Police unearthed hand grenades, smoke bombs and hundreds of rifle bullets in the garden of a house in an Ankara suburb. On Saturday, police found a similar cache in an area outside the capital.

[Dig]

Turkey coup plot arrests now at more than 100
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gkDNl5BG2GBCs3BgBQ0lVnXgDNawD95L4PMG5
By SELCAN HACAOGLU – 2 days ago

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish court formally arrested 14 more people Sunday for ties to an alleged secularist plot by ultranationalists to bring down the Islamic-rooted government, bringing the total of people involved in the case to more than 100.

The prime minister said the crackdown will shed light on a network of renegade agents within the state and make Turkey transparent. Critics say it is designed to silence the government's opponents.

The case highlights a difficult question about who holds the levers of power in a nation where tensions between secularists and Islamists, and liberals and rightists, have created deep fault lines in the country.

The problem is aggravated by key demands from the European Union — which Turkey hopes to join — to reduce the military's influence in politics, make security officials accountable for torture and grant more rights to the country's Kurds.

Over the weekend, an Istanbul anti-terror court formally arrested and jailed 18 coup plot suspects, including a former police chief and four active duty military officers. Fourteen of the 18 were arrested Sunday.

Police detained another 33 suspects in the case Sunday and displayed confiscated weapons. Prosecutors say the plot aimed to destabilize Turkey through a series of attacks and trigger a coup in 2009.

There are already 86 suspects on trial in the case and they include a top author, a political party leader, journalists, a former university dean and a lawyer along with 16 retired military officers. All were outspoken opponents of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan's party — which narrowly escaped a ban last year for allegedly undermining the country's secular principles — says it is trying to strengthen democracy to steer the country toward EU membership even as allegations mount from the secular opposition that the government is using its power to silence critics.

"Are you afraid of seeing Turkey becoming more transparent? Are you afraid of efforts to enlighten sinister incidents?" Erdogan shouted Sunday. "Turkey is changing."

Erdogan has alarmed secularists for trying to lift the ban on Islamic head scarves at universities, and nationalists for policies such as launching the country's first 24-hour Kurdish-language television station on Jan. 1. He uttered a few words in the once-banned tongue in a marked shift policy toward Kurds.

Turkey's military, an instigator of coups in past decades, has warned that secular ideals are in peril, though an armed intervention seems unlikely for now. But many officers are uncomfortable with the government's Kurdish policy as they fight a war against autonomy-seeking rebels that has killed nearly 40,000 people since 1984.

The coup plot case underlines a widening divide between the country's growing Islamic class and secularists.

The roots of the conflict lie in the era of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey and early 20th century war hero who viewed Islam as an impediment to modern development and a symbol of the ills of the Ottoman Empire.

Ataturk imposed a secular system with an authoritarian streak, restricting religious dress, education and practices.

[TheHouseMan]

33. Yeah. That could be a clue for insiders.

[Revolt426]

Posted this 3 days ago, turkey arrested a rogue paramilitary operation with retired Generals:

http://www.larouchepac.com/news/2009/01/09/turks-arrest-seven-retired-generals-ergenekon-case.html

Turks Arrest Seven Retired Generals in Ergenekon Case

January 9, 2009 (LPAC)--The Turkish authorities arrested another 38 suspects in the Ergenekon case, including 7 retired generals. The Ergenekon is a secret network of intelligence, political and security operatives who are accused of plotting military coups, terrorist activities and assassinations over the last 15 years. Already, 85 suspects are currently on trial. The fact that the latest arrests involved so many retired officers, suggests a preemptive move to avert a military coup or major destabilization of the current Turkish government. The government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has for months played key role in trying to mediate Israeli-Syrian peace talks and now is trying to organize a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

Among the retired generals arrested was Tuncer Kilinc, who like the others is close to the so-called Kemalist Thought Association, which is a nest of Ergenekon operatives. The organization's leader, Sener Eruygur, is also a retired general. Kilinc retired in 2002 and had been head of the National Intelligence Coordinating Council, as well as head of the Turkish National Security Council. Another general put under arrest was Eral Senel, formerly of the General Staff, who had led a purge of military officers because they were practicing Muslims. All these generals were involved in the so-called cold coup attempt in 1997 and were later involved in organizing demonstrations against the elections of Abdullah. Others arrested are Grey Wolves-linked Mafia types, and one official, Ibrahim Sahin, former deputy head of the Special Operations unit of the National Police, was involved in the infamous Susurlku investigation of 1996, which revealed links between politicians, the mafia and intelligence services.

The police found 22 hand grenades, four revolvers and one Kalashinkov rifle in the house of an active duty Lt. Colonel who was also put under arrest.