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TURKISH ADMIRALS, OFFICERS GO ON TRIAL OVER COUP PLOT
Agence France Presse
June 15, 2010 Tuesday 12:27 PM GMT
Thirty-three suspects, among them three admirals, went on trial Tuesday
over alleged plans to attack Turkey's non-Muslim minorities in a plot
to discredit and unseat the government.
The suspects were charged as part of a controversial probe into a
purported secularist network which allegedly planned to plunge Turkey
into chaos and prompt a military coup against the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP), the moderate offshoot of a banned Islamist
movement.
The most senior defendants included three-star admiral Kadir Sagdic,
commander of the Turkish navy's Mediterranean flank, one-star admiral
Mehmet Fatih Ilgar and retired three-star admiral Feyyaz Ogutcu.
The suspects, including also 29 navy officers and a civilian, risk
up to 15 years in jail for "membership in a terrorist organization."
They are accused over a suspected plot -- codenamed "Cage" -- to
attack Turkey's small non-Muslim communities, notably Armenians.
The March 2009 document, published by the Taraf daily in November,
allegedly involved plans to carry out false-flag bomb attacks in
minority-populated neighbourhoods in Istanbul and the western city
of Izmir, and to kidnap and assasinate prominent community members.
The suspects reportedly intended to blame the violence on Islamist
militants and create the impression that the AKP encouraged religious
extremism, hoping to paving the way to the party's overthrow.
The court was expected to decide Tuesday whether to merge the case with
the trials of other navy officers, accused over an alleged plot to kill
two admirals and blow up a submarine on display in an Istanbul museum.
The bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos was expected to request an
intervening party status, arguing that the murder of ethnic Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, gunned down by a nationalist youth in 2007,
was part of the "Cage" plan.
A total of some 290 people have been charged so far in relation to the
probe into the so-called Ergenekon network, under way since June 2007.
The investigation was initially hailed as a success in a country
where the army has unseated four governments since 1960.
But its credibility waned as prosecutors began targeting academics,
journalists and writers known as AKP critics and defendants accused
police of doctoring and fabricating evidence.
The probe has deepened the rift between Turkey's secularist
forces and the AKP, with critics saying it has degenerated into a
government-sponsored campaign to bully and silence opponents.
From: A. Papazian
Agence France Presse
June 15, 2010 Tuesday 12:27 PM GMT
Thirty-three suspects, among them three admirals, went on trial Tuesday
over alleged plans to attack Turkey's non-Muslim minorities in a plot
to discredit and unseat the government.
The suspects were charged as part of a controversial probe into a
purported secularist network which allegedly planned to plunge Turkey
into chaos and prompt a military coup against the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP), the moderate offshoot of a banned Islamist
movement.
The most senior defendants included three-star admiral Kadir Sagdic,
commander of the Turkish navy's Mediterranean flank, one-star admiral
Mehmet Fatih Ilgar and retired three-star admiral Feyyaz Ogutcu.
The suspects, including also 29 navy officers and a civilian, risk
up to 15 years in jail for "membership in a terrorist organization."
They are accused over a suspected plot -- codenamed "Cage" -- to
attack Turkey's small non-Muslim communities, notably Armenians.
The March 2009 document, published by the Taraf daily in November,
allegedly involved plans to carry out false-flag bomb attacks in
minority-populated neighbourhoods in Istanbul and the western city
of Izmir, and to kidnap and assasinate prominent community members.
The suspects reportedly intended to blame the violence on Islamist
militants and create the impression that the AKP encouraged religious
extremism, hoping to paving the way to the party's overthrow.
The court was expected to decide Tuesday whether to merge the case with
the trials of other navy officers, accused over an alleged plot to kill
two admirals and blow up a submarine on display in an Istanbul museum.
The bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos was expected to request an
intervening party status, arguing that the murder of ethnic Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, gunned down by a nationalist youth in 2007,
was part of the "Cage" plan.
A total of some 290 people have been charged so far in relation to the
probe into the so-called Ergenekon network, under way since June 2007.
The investigation was initially hailed as a success in a country
where the army has unseated four governments since 1960.
But its credibility waned as prosecutors began targeting academics,
journalists and writers known as AKP critics and defendants accused
police of doctoring and fabricating evidence.
The probe has deepened the rift between Turkey's secularist
forces and the AKP, with critics saying it has degenerated into a
government-sponsored campaign to bully and silence opponents.
From: A. Papazian