TURKISH EX-GENERALS ARRESTED AS RIFT WIDENS BETWEEN PIOUS GOVERNMENT AND SECULAR OPPONENTS
Associated Press Worldstream
July 1, 2008 Tuesday 1:43 PM GMT
ISTANBUL Turkey
Turkish police arrested two retired military generals suspected
of plotting to topple the Islamic-rooted government and the top
prosecutor laid out evidence against the ruling party as rifts in
Turkish politics appeared to widen Tuesday.
The country’s senior prosecutor has brought a case against the
Islamic-leaning Justice and Development Party of Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan accusing it of undermining the secular principles of
the Turkish constitution.
The party denies the claims that it is trying to impose religion
on politics and society, and accuses its opponents of undermining
democracy by plotting to overthrow the legitimately elected government.
Dozens of people, including retired military officers, have previously
been detained during the investigation against an alleged network of
extreme nationalists called "Ergenekon."
But former generals Hursit Tolon and Sener Eruygur, who were detained
Tuesday, were the highest-ranking ex-soldiers to be arrested so far,
private CNN-Turk television said. Eruygur was a major organizer in
anti-government rallies last year, when hundreds of thousands protested
what they considered government attempts to undermine secularism.
Others detained Tuesday included the head of the chamber of trade in
the Turkish capital, Ankara, and a journalist known to be a fierce
critic of the government, CNN-Turk said.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a total of 20 people were
arrested and police were looking for four others.
He denied that the police operation was politically motivated or
designed to silence government critics, even though it came just
before top prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya discussed his case
against Erdogan’s party.
"I think this was a step toward completion of the indictment. It’s
a step taken upon a decision by prosecutors," Erdogan said.
The Justice and Development Party holds a comfortable majority in the
Parliament, winning its second mandate last year after a monthslong
confrontation with the secularist opposition backed by the judiciary
and the military.
In March, prosecutor Yalcinkaya asked the Constitutional Court to
shut down the party and bar 71 people from politics for five years,
including Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul. Erdogan and other
party members have denied they have an Islamic agenda, citing reforms
designed for entry into the European Union as proof.
But Yalcinkaya reaffirmed his position on Tuesday that the ruling
party is trying to corrode the secularist principles enshrined in the
Constitution, Anatolia news agency reported. He appeared before the
top court in a private session, arguing that there was a "clear and
present" danger that the ruling party was seeking to impose Islamic
law on Turkey.
Turkish police launched simultaneous raids in at least three provinces
hours before Yalcinkaya appeared in court, private Dogan news agency
said.
"It may not be a coincidence. Every time there is a development
concerning the closure case, there is often a development concerning
the Ergenekon case," said Volkan Aytar, an analyst with an
Istanbul-based research center, TESEV.
In January, a court charged eight people with trying to provoke an
armed rebellion against the government. News reports said they were
members of "Ergenekon" and were accused of plotting a series of bomb
attacks and assassinations.
The Ergenekon hit list reportedly included Nobel prize-winning novelist
Orhan Pamuk, who has angered nationalists with his comments about the
World War I-era killing of ethnic Armenians, and Kurdish leaders seen
by many Turks as a threat to national sovereignty.
Associated Press reporter Suzan Fraser in Ankara contributed to
this report.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
