Turkey army issues warning after 'coup plot' arrests
Turkish military on parade (file picture)
The head of Turkey's army has insisted coups are a thing of the past
Turkey's army has warned of a "serious" situation after 40 senior military figures were arrested over an alleged plot to topple the government.
full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8531486.stm
Turkey army issues warning after 'coup plot' arrests
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Turkey army issues warning after 'coup plot' arrests
by Lit » Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:25 am
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by Lit » Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:26 am
Turkey's defence chiefs assess 'serious' coup plot arrests
By Nicolas Cheviron (AFP) –
ISTANBUL — The EU voiced concern over allegations of a military coup plot in Turkey on Tuesday, as the country's top brass held a crisis meeting and investigators grilled senior defence figures.
Full story:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... f4rzbzsJ5A
By Nicolas Cheviron (AFP) –
ISTANBUL — The EU voiced concern over allegations of a military coup plot in Turkey on Tuesday, as the country's top brass held a crisis meeting and investigators grilled senior defence figures.
Full story:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... f4rzbzsJ5A
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by Lit » Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:30 am
Turkish Army Says Situation ‘Serious’ as Ex-Officers Detained
February 23, 2010, 06:02 PM EST
More From Businessweek
By Steve Bryant and Mark Bentley
Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey’s military said the detention of retired officers over an alleged coup plot was a “serious situation,” in the sharpest escalation of tensions with the government since a 2007 showdown that led to early elections.
The top commanders gathered at military headquarters in Ankara late yesterday to discuss the detention of more than 40 former officers, the armed forces said on its Web site. Police held the ex-officers, including previous heads of the air force and navy, in a series of raids on Feb. 22.
The arrests deepened strains between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the military leadership. Erdogan, whose Justice and Development Party has its roots in political Islam, has curtailed the secularist generals’ influence over decision- making as Turkey chases membership in the European Union.
“What was a low-intensity conflict has this week escalated into high intensity,” said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkey Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “We’re facing a period of extreme polarization in politics, and the country is so consumed with it all that it seems to me only early elections can provide a breath of fresh air.”
The military has toppled four governments since 1960, including a predecessor of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, which it suspects of introducing Islam into politics.
Lira Drops
The lira dropped 1.3 percent to 1.5510 per dollar at 11 p.m. in Istanbul, extending earlier losses. Share and bond markets were closed at the time of the military statement. The ISE National 100 index of stocks more than doubled during the past year and the lira gained 8.6 percent against the dollar as the economy emerged from the financial crisis without the need for a government rescue of banks.
Erdogan was in Spain yesterday for an official visit that included a tour of a military cargo-plane factory in Seville, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. He returned to Ankara late in the day.
The prime minister called an election in 2007 after the army criticized his choice of Abdullah Gul as president because of his Islamist past. Justice won re-election with 47 percent of the vote, the biggest share any Turkish party had drawn in almost 40 years, and promoted Gul to the presidency.
The next election is due by July 2011. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said on Feb. 22 that the government intends to serve its full term.
Thirteen of the former officers were sent to court yesterday, with seven facing charges, Anatolia said. Three ex- admirals were among those who prosecutors want charged, NTV television said, without providing further details.
‘Unconscionable’ Allegations
The detentions follow a report in Taraf newspaper on Jan. 21 that army officers had drafted a plan in 2003 to stage bombings that would undermine confidence in Erdogan’s government. Chief of General Staff Ilker Basbug on Jan. 25 called the allegations “unconscionable” and said they were part of a campaign of psychological warfare designed to undermine public trust in the armed forces.
“This is not something we’ve ever experienced in Turkey before, so it’s very hard to predict what will happen,” said Etyen Mahcupyan, director of the democratization program at Istanbul research institute Tesev. Possible military responses may range from a mass resignation to a statement expressing faith in the judicial process, he said.
The detentions came after scores of retired officers and journalists, accused of participating in a planned coup, were jailed and put on trial in the past year.
The European Union is concerned at the “serious allegations,” Agence France-Presse said, citing Angela Filote, a spokeswoman for EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule. The probe should be “exemplary” and “Turkish citizens are entitled to hear the entire truth on these cases,” she said, according to AFP.
February 23, 2010, 06:02 PM EST
More From Businessweek
By Steve Bryant and Mark Bentley
Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey’s military said the detention of retired officers over an alleged coup plot was a “serious situation,” in the sharpest escalation of tensions with the government since a 2007 showdown that led to early elections.
The top commanders gathered at military headquarters in Ankara late yesterday to discuss the detention of more than 40 former officers, the armed forces said on its Web site. Police held the ex-officers, including previous heads of the air force and navy, in a series of raids on Feb. 22.
The arrests deepened strains between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the military leadership. Erdogan, whose Justice and Development Party has its roots in political Islam, has curtailed the secularist generals’ influence over decision- making as Turkey chases membership in the European Union.
“What was a low-intensity conflict has this week escalated into high intensity,” said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkey Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “We’re facing a period of extreme polarization in politics, and the country is so consumed with it all that it seems to me only early elections can provide a breath of fresh air.”
The military has toppled four governments since 1960, including a predecessor of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, which it suspects of introducing Islam into politics.
Lira Drops
The lira dropped 1.3 percent to 1.5510 per dollar at 11 p.m. in Istanbul, extending earlier losses. Share and bond markets were closed at the time of the military statement. The ISE National 100 index of stocks more than doubled during the past year and the lira gained 8.6 percent against the dollar as the economy emerged from the financial crisis without the need for a government rescue of banks.
Erdogan was in Spain yesterday for an official visit that included a tour of a military cargo-plane factory in Seville, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. He returned to Ankara late in the day.
The prime minister called an election in 2007 after the army criticized his choice of Abdullah Gul as president because of his Islamist past. Justice won re-election with 47 percent of the vote, the biggest share any Turkish party had drawn in almost 40 years, and promoted Gul to the presidency.
The next election is due by July 2011. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said on Feb. 22 that the government intends to serve its full term.
Thirteen of the former officers were sent to court yesterday, with seven facing charges, Anatolia said. Three ex- admirals were among those who prosecutors want charged, NTV television said, without providing further details.
‘Unconscionable’ Allegations
The detentions follow a report in Taraf newspaper on Jan. 21 that army officers had drafted a plan in 2003 to stage bombings that would undermine confidence in Erdogan’s government. Chief of General Staff Ilker Basbug on Jan. 25 called the allegations “unconscionable” and said they were part of a campaign of psychological warfare designed to undermine public trust in the armed forces.
“This is not something we’ve ever experienced in Turkey before, so it’s very hard to predict what will happen,” said Etyen Mahcupyan, director of the democratization program at Istanbul research institute Tesev. Possible military responses may range from a mass resignation to a statement expressing faith in the judicial process, he said.
The detentions came after scores of retired officers and journalists, accused of participating in a planned coup, were jailed and put on trial in the past year.
The European Union is concerned at the “serious allegations,” Agence France-Presse said, citing Angela Filote, a spokeswoman for EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule. The probe should be “exemplary” and “Turkish citizens are entitled to hear the entire truth on these cases,” she said, according to AFP.
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by Lit » Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:38 am
Arrest of top-brass generals deepens Turkey power struggle
Read it on Global News: Arrest of top-brass generals deepens Turkey power struggle
http://news.globaltv.com/world/story.html?id=2602027
ISTANBUL - The arrest of dozens of high-ranking military figures in Turkey over an alleged coup plan dating back seven years marks the latest episode of a power struggle between the Islamist-rooted government and the army, the bastion of the secular order, analysts said Tuesday.
In a massive swoop, anti-terror police Monday detained more than 40 people, including the former air force and navy chiefs, over a purported plan drawn up in 2003 to oust the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Until recently, such tough action was inconceivable against the military which has toppled four governments in 50 years and exercised significant clout in politics.
But recent reforms to align the country with the European Union, spearheaded by the AKP government, has reduced the influence of the once-mighty military.
Monday's arrests constitute a "breaking point" in Turkish political history, said the liberal Taraf daily which exposed the alleged coup plan code-named "Operation Sledgehammer" last month.
"The republic is now changing. The era of 'dictatorships' is coming to an end. The coup plotters are being arrested and brought to justice," wrote the newspaper's editor-in-chief Ahmet Altan.
According to Taraf, "Operation Sledgehammer" called for the bombing of two mosques in Istanbul at prayer time and organizing attacks by soldiers disguised as Islamists against symbols of secularism.
The coup planners also allegedly plotted to escalate tensions with Greece to secure the downing of a Turkish plane in a dog-fight with Greek jets over the Aegean with the ultimate aim of showing the government as inept and justifying a military takeover.
The army has denied the exisence of "Operation Sledgehammer" and complained of a "smear campaign" amid a string of similar plots for a military takeover carried by the pro-government media.
Dozens of former officers, among them two retired generals, are already on trial over the so-called Ergenekon network, an alleged secularist-nationalist group accused of planning to foment unrest to pave the way for a military coup.
The probe was initially hailed as a success, but has since come under doubt with some suspects accusing police of fabricating evidence.
Government critics claim the coup allegations are a bid by the AKP to cripple the army and remove a major obstacle to a hidden agenda of transforming Turkey into an Islamic state.
Hugh Pope, a senior analyst specialising on Turkey at the International Crisis Group, expressed doubt there was a "witch hunt" against the army.
"Clearly, the judiciary is extremely serious and they would certainly not have taken so many high-profile people into custody unless they had an absolute certainty in their mind that this is a real case," he said.
Pope acknowledged there was "uncomfortable evidence" of abuses in the judicial process against the alleged coup plotters, but underlined the investigation also represented "a process by which Turkey is establishing the supremacy of civilian authority" over military power.
Alexandre Toumarkine, a political scientist from the French Institute of Anatolia Studies, said the possibility of some limited form of military intervention in EU-candidate Turkey in the 21st-century was not pure fiction.
"The image of tanks in the streets carries such a heavy political cost that such a hypothesis is probably unthinkable," he said.
Nevertheless, plans of more discreet military intervention aimed at "restructuring the political system in depth" have "germinated in the minds of quite a few people," he added.
"We have the impression that they have reached such a level (of antagonism) that the army either accepts to withdraw from the political area or continues to prepare the destabilization of the current government to compel it to leave the scene."
© Copyright (c) AFP
Read it on Global News: Arrest of top-brass generals deepens Turkey power struggle
Read it on Global News: Arrest of top-brass generals deepens Turkey power struggle
http://news.globaltv.com/world/story.html?id=2602027
ISTANBUL - The arrest of dozens of high-ranking military figures in Turkey over an alleged coup plan dating back seven years marks the latest episode of a power struggle between the Islamist-rooted government and the army, the bastion of the secular order, analysts said Tuesday.
In a massive swoop, anti-terror police Monday detained more than 40 people, including the former air force and navy chiefs, over a purported plan drawn up in 2003 to oust the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Until recently, such tough action was inconceivable against the military which has toppled four governments in 50 years and exercised significant clout in politics.
But recent reforms to align the country with the European Union, spearheaded by the AKP government, has reduced the influence of the once-mighty military.
Monday's arrests constitute a "breaking point" in Turkish political history, said the liberal Taraf daily which exposed the alleged coup plan code-named "Operation Sledgehammer" last month.
"The republic is now changing. The era of 'dictatorships' is coming to an end. The coup plotters are being arrested and brought to justice," wrote the newspaper's editor-in-chief Ahmet Altan.
According to Taraf, "Operation Sledgehammer" called for the bombing of two mosques in Istanbul at prayer time and organizing attacks by soldiers disguised as Islamists against symbols of secularism.
The coup planners also allegedly plotted to escalate tensions with Greece to secure the downing of a Turkish plane in a dog-fight with Greek jets over the Aegean with the ultimate aim of showing the government as inept and justifying a military takeover.
The army has denied the exisence of "Operation Sledgehammer" and complained of a "smear campaign" amid a string of similar plots for a military takeover carried by the pro-government media.
Dozens of former officers, among them two retired generals, are already on trial over the so-called Ergenekon network, an alleged secularist-nationalist group accused of planning to foment unrest to pave the way for a military coup.
The probe was initially hailed as a success, but has since come under doubt with some suspects accusing police of fabricating evidence.
Government critics claim the coup allegations are a bid by the AKP to cripple the army and remove a major obstacle to a hidden agenda of transforming Turkey into an Islamic state.
Hugh Pope, a senior analyst specialising on Turkey at the International Crisis Group, expressed doubt there was a "witch hunt" against the army.
"Clearly, the judiciary is extremely serious and they would certainly not have taken so many high-profile people into custody unless they had an absolute certainty in their mind that this is a real case," he said.
Pope acknowledged there was "uncomfortable evidence" of abuses in the judicial process against the alleged coup plotters, but underlined the investigation also represented "a process by which Turkey is establishing the supremacy of civilian authority" over military power.
Alexandre Toumarkine, a political scientist from the French Institute of Anatolia Studies, said the possibility of some limited form of military intervention in EU-candidate Turkey in the 21st-century was not pure fiction.
"The image of tanks in the streets carries such a heavy political cost that such a hypothesis is probably unthinkable," he said.
Nevertheless, plans of more discreet military intervention aimed at "restructuring the political system in depth" have "germinated in the minds of quite a few people," he added.
"We have the impression that they have reached such a level (of antagonism) that the army either accepts to withdraw from the political area or continues to prepare the destabilization of the current government to compel it to leave the scene."
© Copyright (c) AFP
Read it on Global News: Arrest of top-brass generals deepens Turkey power struggle
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by Lit » Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:42 pm
Turkey's civilian, military leaders to meet over 'coup' tensions
February 25, 2010 - 7:19AM
Turkey's president Wednesday called crisis talks with the army chief and the prime minister amid simmering tensions over an alleged 2003 plot to topple the Islamist-rooted government.
President Abdullah Gul's initiative came after the military said the arrest of dozens of serving and retired officers was a "serious situation."
Gul decided to merge routine weekly talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chief of Staff Ilker Basbug into one meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara at 0900 GMT Thursday, an official from his office told AFP.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-wo ... -p3y8.html
February 25, 2010 - 7:19AM
Turkey's president Wednesday called crisis talks with the army chief and the prime minister amid simmering tensions over an alleged 2003 plot to topple the Islamist-rooted government.
President Abdullah Gul's initiative came after the military said the arrest of dozens of serving and retired officers was a "serious situation."
Gul decided to merge routine weekly talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chief of Staff Ilker Basbug into one meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara at 0900 GMT Thursday, an official from his office told AFP.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-wo ... -p3y8.html
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by Lit » Thu Feb 25, 2010 2:24 am
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/world ... urkey.html
Turkey Unsettled by Officer Arrests
Turkey Unsettled by Officer Arrests
“It is not an easy power struggle to reach an end anytime soon, when the military tries to maintain its power and the government remains somewhat involved in the trial process,” said Rusen Cakir, a columnist with Vatan, a daily newspaper. “We still do not know where this polarization in the society, anxiously watching these happenings, will lead Turkey.”
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by Lit » Thu Feb 25, 2010 2:26 am
Turkey's president, PM to meet top commander Thurs
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6 ... arketsNews
ANKARA, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Turkey's president and prime minister will hold a meeting with the country's top military commander on Thursday, a government source said, as tensions between the military and the government escalate.
Bonds
Seven senior Turkish military officers were charged on Wednesday over an alleged plot by the secularist armed forces to topple the Islamist-rooted government after police detained around 50 serving and retired officers in an unprecedented move.
The strains, which have fed speculation that elections due next year could be brought forward, have hit investor confidence in the European Union candidate country. (Reporting by Pinar Aydinli; Editing by Matthew Jones)
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6 ... arketsNews
ANKARA, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Turkey's president and prime minister will hold a meeting with the country's top military commander on Thursday, a government source said, as tensions between the military and the government escalate.
Bonds
Seven senior Turkish military officers were charged on Wednesday over an alleged plot by the secularist armed forces to topple the Islamist-rooted government after police detained around 50 serving and retired officers in an unprecedented move.
The strains, which have fed speculation that elections due next year could be brought forward, have hit investor confidence in the European Union candidate country. (Reporting by Pinar Aydinli; Editing by Matthew Jones)
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by Lit » Thu Feb 25, 2010 2:30 am
Turkey Stocks Drop Most in 2 Weeks, Yields Rise on Army Tension
February 24, 2010
By Seda Sezer
Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Turkish stocks fell the most in two weeks and credit-default swaps rose after the military said the detention of serving and retired army officers over an alleged coup plot was a “serious situation.”
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-0 ... nsion.html
February 24, 2010
By Seda Sezer
Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Turkish stocks fell the most in two weeks and credit-default swaps rose after the military said the detention of serving and retired army officers over an alleged coup plot was a “serious situation.”
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-0 ... nsion.html
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by Lit » Fri Feb 26, 2010 2:20 am
Turkey Frees Officers as Tensions Rise
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 14710.html
Rumors continued to swirl through Turkey's media Thursday that the country's courts were preparing a case to ban the AKP for overstepping its constitutional powers, a move that would sharply escalate political tensions and likely trigger early elections.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 14710.html
Rumors continued to swirl through Turkey's media Thursday that the country's courts were preparing a case to ban the AKP for overstepping its constitutional powers, a move that would sharply escalate political tensions and likely trigger early elections.
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