Suspected Turkish coup plot sees 24 detained

TURKISH authorities have detained at least 24 ultra-nationalists, including two prominent retired generals, in a widening police investigation into a suspected coup plot against the government.

Police swooped shortly before the Constitutional Court began hearing a legal case in which the governing AK Party is charged with trying to establish an Islamic state and could be closed, a move that might lead to an early parliamentary election.

Turkish stocks fell 6% and the lira currency almost 2% on concerns of prolonged political uncertainty which political analysts say could damage Ankara’s hopes of joining the European Union.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the detentions were linked to a long-running investigation into Ergenekon, a shadowy, ultra-nationalist and hardline secularist group suspected of planning bombings and assassinations calculated to trigger an army takeover.

“It is not the AK Party which they cannot tolerate. What they can’t tolerate is democracy, the national will, the people’s feelings and thoughts,” Erdogan said.

State news agency Anatolian said 25 people, including two prominent retired generals and the Ankara head of the secularist daily Cumhuriyet, were among those detained.

“These are prominent people and their common point is their loyalty to secularism. The (government) wants to turn society into an empire of fear,” Mustafa Ozyurek, a senior lawmaker in the opposition said.

Anatolian named the detained generals as Hursit Tolon and Sener Eruygur, the former head of the paramilitary gendarmerie forces and head of a powerful secularist association.

Turkey, while predominantly Muslim, has a secular constitution, and the military considers itself the ultimate guardian of the republic. It remains at odds with the AK Party over the role of religion in public life, an issue which has polarised Turkey for decades.

Half of those detained were members of the powerful Kemalist Thought Association (ADD). the group helped push millions of Turks onto the streets to protest against the election of former foreign minister Abdullah Gul as president last year, sparking an early parliamentary election.

“We have nothing to do with illegal activities,” said ADD deputy chairman Ali Ercan.

The secularist establishment, including army generals and judges, suspects the AK Party of harbouring a hidden Islamist agenda. The party, which embraces nationalists, centre-right politicians and religious conservatives, denies the accusations.

Shortly after the detentions, Turkey’s chief prosecutor outlined his case in the Constitutional Court to close the AK Party.

The prosecutor also wants to ban 71 political figures, including Erdogan, from party politics for five years for seeking to turn Turkey into an Islamic state.

The AK Party denies the charges and says they are politically motivated. A ruling could come as early as August.