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| Europe |
| Over 50 Turkish commanders held over coup plot |
| 2010-02-23 |
| Once they were untouchable. Some were members of Turkey's elite military class known as "pashas," a title of respect harking back to Ottoman times. For decades, Turkey's senior officers, self-appointed guardians of the country's secular tradition, called the shots. But Monday, the balance of power in this EU candidate appeared to have undergone a major shift. Turkish police detained 52 military commanders for allegedly planning to blow up mosques in order to trigger a military takeover and overthrow the Islamic-oriented government. The detentions showed that the elected government is trying to take the upper hand against the military, which has ousted four governments since 1960 and held influence since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk created the secular republic from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. With strong electoral backing and support from the European Union, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has curtailed military power and signaled further tough steps to rein in the generals. But Monday's detentions, following the gathering of wiretap evidence and the discovery of secret weapons caches, marks the highest-profile crackdown to date. Police in simultaneous operations in eight cities detained 21 generals and admirals, including ex-deputy chief Gen. Ergin Saygun, former Air Force chief Gen. Ibrahim Firtina and Navy Chief Adm. Ozden Ornek. The rest were mostly colonels. They are also accused of conspiring to plan shooting down a Turkish warplane to trigger armed conflict with Greece in a bid to destabilize the Turkish government. The military strongly denies the allegations. Erdogan declined to comment Monday on the raids, saying they had been carried out on prosecutors' orders. However on Sunday, Erdogan said his government had not given "a chance to those who tried to fly a course for Turkey outside the law." A spokesman for the main opposition Republican People's Party, expressed concern over the detentions. "These are grave incidents, severe incidents for society, for the Turkish armed forces," Mustafa Ozyurek said. "Legally, and from a human rights perspective, there must be a speedy trial." Erdogan denies the ongoing crackdown is politically motivated or designed to silence government critics, as is claimed by opposition parties. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc on Monday denounced the 1961 hanging by coup leaders of a prime minister and two of his ministers. But he said that those days are over and that Turkey now was going through a normalization process. "Things will get better when those who were never accountable for their deeds begin to account for them," Arinc told CNN-Turk television Monday. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 Turkish coups are traditionally a lot less dramatic than this false flag business, and a lot more straight-forward. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2010-02-23 14:37 |
| #5 the allegations are so stupid Intended for domestic public, LG. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-02-23 14:13 |
| #4 hopefully this bites him on the ass and Turkey comes back to a sensible way of being. They were so great, before this idiocy..... |
| Posted by: 746 2010-02-23 11:05 |
| #3 the allegations are so stupid that it seems to be a 'message' type action the 'message' is: We Islamists are in control now and there is nothing you can do about it, nyahh, nyahh ,nyahh. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2010-02-23 08:47 |
| #2 Erdogan may be playing with fire. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2010-02-23 00:56 |
| #1 All this conspiracy to blow stuff up sounds just a little too pat. Erdogan making a pre-emptive move against the military? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2010-02-23 00:50 |