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| Europe |
| Turkey: Police arrest 20 in coup probe |
| 2009-06-05 |
| [ADN Kronos] Turkish police detained 20 people, including 10 serving military officers, on Thursday in connection with an investigation into an alleged plot to topple the government, CNN's local Turkish channel said. The arrests were made in five provinces around the country and followed the discovery in April of a cache of weapons outside of Istanbul. The latest arrests are part of a probe into an ultra-nationalist group known as Ergenekon, accused of planning bomb attacks and assassinations to provoke social unrest and unseat the government of prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They are accused of trying to undermine the ruling AK Party because of its suspected Islamist agenda and its bid to make Turkey the first Muslim member of the European Union. About 140 people are already on trial in the case, including retired military officers, lawyers and journalists. The 10 officers who were arrested on Thursday work at Ankara's military hospital and anti-terrorism police were searching the homes of some of them. Two civilians who work at a military facility were also detained. |
| Posted by: |
| #1 I thought the "Attaturk" constitution directed the army to protect the country from Islam? |
| Posted by: Lampedusa Jomoper2588 2009-06-05 13:21 |