Turkey widens coup probe

Turkish authorities detained at least 21 ultra-nationalists, including two prominent retired generals, yesterday in a widening police investigation into a suspected coup plot against the government.

Police swooped shortly before the Constitutional Court began hearing a legal case in which the governing AK Party is charged with trying to establish an Islamic state and could be closed, a move that might lead to an early parliamentary election.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the detentions were linked to a long-running probe into Ergenekon, a shadowy, ultra-nationalist and hard-line secularist group suspected of planning bombings and assassinations calculated to trigger an army takeover.

"It is not the AK Party which they cannot tolerate. What they can't tolerate is democracy, the national will, the people's feelings and thoughts," Mr Erdogan said.

Ankara police said 24 people had been detained, but later the prosecutor's office told state news agency Anatolian that 21 were in detention and three more were being sought.

Anatolian said among those detained were prominent retired generals Hursit Tolon and Sener Eruygur, the former chief of gendarmerie forces and head of a powerful secularist association.

The Milliyet daily said on its website that a retired brigadier general and a retired vice-admiral had also been detained.

"These are prominent people and their common point is their loyalty to secularism. The (government) wants to turn society into an empire of fear," Mustafa Ozyurek, a senior lawmaker in the main opposition party CHP, told broadcaster NTV.

Ankara Chamber of Commerce chairman Sinan Aygun and Ankara representative of Cumhuriyet newspaper were also detained.

Turkey, while predominantly Muslim, has a secular Constitution, and the military considers itself the ultimate guardian of the republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It remains at odds with the AK Party over the role of religion in public life, an issue which has polarised Turkey for decades.

Shortly after the detentions, Turkey's chief prosecutor outlined his case in the Constitutional Court to close the AK Party, which was re-elected only last year.

The prosecutor also wants to ban 71 political figures, including Mr Erdogan, from party politics for five years for seeking to turn officially secular, but predominantly Muslim, Turkey into an Islamic state.

The AK Party denies the charges and says they are politically motivated. A ruling could come as early as next month.

Turkish courts have banned more than 20 parties for alleged Islamist or Kurdish separatist activities. A predecessor to the AK Party was banned in 2001.

If the AK Party is closed and Mr Erdogan removed from power, analysts expect an early parliamentary election will follow.

Political analysts say the likelihood of the AK Party being closed down has increased since the Constitutional Court last month overturned a government-led move to allow students to wear the Islamic headscarf at university.

"Is this a coincidence that the (police) operation on our offices comes at the same time as the oral statement by the chief prosecutor?" asked Cumhuriyet columnist Cuneyt Arcayurek.