TURKISH GENERALS DENY INVOLVEMENT IN COUP PLOT

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.02.2010 13:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug gathered
active duty military generals at an extraordinary meeting at the
General Staff in the Turkish capital on Tuesday evening, reportedly
to discuss the position of the armed forces in the wake of a fresh
wave of detentions of nearly 50 retired and active duty members of
the military as part of a coup plot investigation.

The meeting was attended by 15 generals, who evaluated the "serious
situation" that erupted amid the Ergenekon investigation being
conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, according
to a statement posted on the General Staff Web site late Tuesday.

All generals who attended Tuesday’s meeting denied involvement in
the alleged plans and some even offered to submit their resignations
rather than be faced with such accusations. The generals, however,
did not discuss whether to issue a harsh statement against the Justice
and Development Party (AK Party) government over the detentions,
ôoday’s Zaman reported.

Dozens of senior officers, including a former Deputy Chief of General
Staff, retired Army General Ergin Saygun have been arrested on charges
of plotting a coup in Turkey. A former Air Force commander, retired
Army General Fyrtyna Ibrahim, a former Navy commander, Admiral retired
Omek Ozgen, a retired general Engin Alan are among the detainees.

According to the source, 10 colonels, four admirals, 17 generals
(some of them are retired) were arrested. 50 arrests were held in
Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.

Over the past 50 years there were four military coups in Turkey:
on May 27, 1960, on March 12, 1971, on September 12, 1980 and on
February 28, 1997.