86 indicted in alleged Turkish coup plot

PROSECUTORS yesterday indicted 86 secular Turks — including high-ranking ex-military officials — on terrorism charges for their alleged involvement in plots to topple the Islamic-rooted government.

The suspects, believed to include at least one former general and an opposition politician, are accused of plotting to provoke a military coup to topple Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, Istanbul’s chief prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin said.

They face charges of forming or belonging to a terrorist organisation, or of provoking an armed uprising with the aim of bringing down Erdogan’s government, he said. A court has two weeks to decide whether to try the suspects.

The indictment is the latest episode in an ongoing power struggle between the Islamic-rooted government and nationalists seeking to defend the secularism established by modern Turkey’s revered founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Secularists — backed by the military, judiciary and some trade groups — accuse Erdogan and his government of seeking to push an Islamic agenda and making too many concessions to Christian and Kurdish minorities as part of the nation’s bid to join the European Union.

Erdogan’s opponents say the charges are part of a government attempt to silence critics.

“This is a campaign to defame people who speak against the government,” said Onur Oymen, a member of the secular opposition Republican Peoples’ Party.

Erdogan’s government may be banned by the Constitutional Court for seeking to permit Islamic-style headscarves at universities — a move the court says violates Turkey’s constitution.

Erdogan’s party denies it has an Islamic agenda.

Engin did not name those charged but said the suspects — who include ex-army officers, lawyers, and an author critical of Erdogan — were detained after police uncovered a cache of hand grenades at the home of a retired officer last year.