86 face charges of trying to topple Turkish government

A SHADOWY right-wing group goes on trial in Turkey on Monday on charges of trying to topple Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government.

Some 86 people, including retired army officers, the head of a small nationalist party and journalists, have been indicted in an investigation that has highlighted a power struggle between the ruling AK Party and the secularist establishment.

The case has also brought some elements of the armed forces under scrutiny although the military, which has unseated four elected governments in the last 50 years, denies any link.