Arrest of two retired generals exacerbates tension in Turkey

07/07/2008

As Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) faces a closure case at the Constitutional Court, the arrest of two ex-generals and other AKP critics for allegedly plotting a coup has deepened the rift in Turkish politics.

By Ayhan Simsek for Southeast European Times -- 07/07/08

Guards patrol the high-security jail in Ankara's Sincan suburb. [AFP]

Police arrested two retired generals in Turkey on Sunday as part of an investigation into the Ergenekon "terrorist group", which allegedly was plotting assassinations and social unrest to provoke a military coup.

In the most recent phase of a 13-month-long investigation, police detained Şener Eruygur, the chairman of the Atatürkist Thought Association (ADD), and Hurşit Tolon early last week, together with prominent journalists, writers, academics and a businessman, before formally arresting them at the weekend. Eruygur and Tolon are the first high-ranking generals to be arrested in Turkish history.

Forty-eight other suspects have languished in custody for months and are still awaiting indictment.

The recent arrests have deepened the already pronounced rift in the country, with the secular and nationalist opposition criticising the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) for launching a "political revenge trial".

The initial detention of Eruygur and Tolon occurred on July 1st, the same day as the AKP's presentation of its defence at the Constitutional Court. The AKP is fighting accusations of plotting to institute Islamist rule in the secular country. Eruygur and Tolon were leading figures at anti-government rallies in 2007.

The conduct of the Ergenekon probe, which included detention of suspects before presentation of any clear evidence and their prolonged jailing before trial, received widespread criticism from secular and nationalist media. Critics call the wave of arrests an effort to intimidate the opposition.

The prosecution has yet to issue an official statement; however, pro-government newspapers continue to publish excerpts from thousands of pages of material supplied by it. According to these reports, Ergenekon was planning to instigate social unrest in 40 provinces on July 7. The second stage of the plot allegedly involved a number of assassinations. Eruygur and Tolon denied these claims through their lawyers.

So far, the Turkish General Staff has refrained from interfering in the legal process, but Ground Forces Commander General Ilker Basbug, who will take charge of the military in August, called for calm.

"We all have to act with more common sense, more carefully and more responsibly," he said.

Retired Brigadier General Nejat Eslen described the Ergenekon probe as evidence of "a serious and inevitable power struggle in Turkey ... For the time being, Islamists are leading in the struggle ... [The] nationalists, on the other hand, are reactive and unprepared," he wrote in the daily Radikal.

Dismissing any possibility of a military overthrow, Eslen called coups a relic from the Cold War era.