Political tension mounts in Turkey

02/07/2008

Political tensions rose in Turkey on Tuesday after police arrested two retired generals and other prominent figures suspected of plotting to overthrow the government. The arrests coincide with a court case aimed at closing the ruling party.

(AP, Zaman - 02/07/08; AP, Reuters, DPA, BBC, CNN, FT, Bloomberg, VOA - 01/07/08)

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) and Interior Minister Besir Atalay (right) speak to reporters in Ankara on Tuesday (July 1st). [Getty Images]

Police arrested nearly two dozen people, including two retired generals early Tuesday (July 1st) suspected of involvement in an alleged plot against the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) government.

Among the 21 people detained in Ankara, Istanbul, Antalya and Trabzon were retired generals Hursit Tolon and Sener Eruygur. CNN-Turk television described the two as being the highest-ranking former soldiers arrested since the launch of the probe, prompted by the discovery of a concealed arms depot in Istanbul a year ago.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan linked the sweep to the long-running investigation into a shadowy network of hard-line nationalists and staunch secularists called Ergenekon. Erdogan said investigators suspected the group of planning terrorist acts meant to trigger an army takeover.

Eruygur, described as one of the key organisers of anti-government rallies held before the July 2007 elections, heads the secularist Ataturkist Thought Association (ADD), named after Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish republic. At least ten of those taken into custody Tuesday also belonged to that powerful organisation. Tolon, according to the daily Zaman, has often appeared at forums organised by ultranationalists.

Judicial sources said to expect an indictment by the end of this week. The raid took place just hours before Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya presented his case against the AKP at the country's Constitutional Court.

Erdogan denied allegations that police staged the operation to divert public attention from the court case and that the arresting officers acted on political motives or sought to intimidate government critics.

Yalcinkaya filed his case in March, asking the Constitutional Court to close down the AKP because of its alleged involvement in anti-secularist activities and attempts to impose sharia law.

"This risk has been increasing every day," the BBC quoted from the prosecutor's 162-page petition. "There is no other way to protect society than to close the party down." Yalcinkaya cited allowing female university students to wear headscarves and restricting alcohol sales in restaurants as evidence of the AKP's theocratic intentions.

He has also asked Turkey's top court to to ban 71 politicians, including Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, from politics for five years.

Erdogan's party, rooted in political Islam, took 47% of the vote in 2007 and enjoys a comfortable majority in parliament.

The AKP, in defence arguments exceeding 400 pages, insists that the case constitutes a "violation of the right to free speech" and "of the right to free elections". It warned that any ruling supporting the party's closure would amount to cancelling its victory in a democratic election.

Top Brussels officials have also warned that the case could undermine Turkey's EU membership bid. Disputes of this type belong at the ballot box, not in the courtroom, according to EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn.