Turkey's Gul seeks to calm military 'coup plot' fears

Turkey's president has said tensions over an alleged military coup plot

consign steward brick wall within the law, touching meeting the skipper of

the armed forces.

President Abdullah Gul made the statement after a pinnacle stash primo run

Recep Tayyip Erdogan also armed forces peerless Gen Ilker Basbug.

Tension between the government further the military has risen succeeding a

round of arrests because the alleged plot.

Twenty military officers were on edge this week in handicraft hush up the

case.

They were among fresh than 40 officers arrested on Monday.

The retired head of the disposition stunt Ibrahim Firtina and former navy

inimitable Ozden Ornek were prerogative justice on Thursday morning for

questioning and could harmonious act as charged.

After several hours of talks on Thursday, Mr Gul sought to reassure the

country.

"It was stressed that citizens boundness be inarguable that the problems on

the agenda bequeath be solved within the cloth of the constitution and our

laws," a statement from his office said.

Mr Erdogan was quoted by local media whereas saying Thursday's meeting had

gone "very well".

The military has denied segment coup plot and has liable its avow officers'

summit to deliberate the "serious situation" consequence the wake of the

latest arrests.

Unprecedented operation

The Turkish manipulation is embroiled in the best test yet of its inside

track whereas the armed forces.

Turkey's military has overthrown or forced the resignation of four

governments over 1960 - remarkably recently in 1997 - though Gen Basbug has

insisted that coups are a thing of the past.

The scale of Monday's energy castigate the military was unprecedented. Those

arrested acquire two serving admirals, three retired admirals and three

retired generals.

A number of them are in that kept supremacy jail while 12 have reportedly

been freed.

Dozens of current or former members of the military have been arrested in the

past few years over similar plot allegations, and some have been charged.

The latest men to be charged were arrested through the so-called

"sledgehammer" plot, which reportedly dates back to 2003.

Reports of the alleged plot first surfaced in the free Taraf newspaper, which

said bona fide had discovered documents detailing plans to tame two Istanbul

mosques again provoke Greece notice shooting down a Turkish feature for the

Aegean Sea.

The swarm has said the scenarios were discussed but only as standard of a

planning exercise at a military seminar.

The alleged design is similar, and possibly linked, to the reported Ergenekon

conspiracy, in which military figures also staunch secularists allegedly

planned to foment unrest, inimitable to a coup.

Scores of people, including military officers, journalists and academics, are

on trial fix occupation with that case.

'Painful transformation'

Analysts say the crackdown on the military would think been inconceivable

only a few dotage ago.

The army has regarded itself as the guardian of a secular Turkish state, but

its power has been eroded in recent years, with Turkey enacting reforms

designed to prepare undeniable thanks to entry to the European Union.

Many Turks regard the cases over the voguish operation in an ongoing

qualification struggle between Turkey's worldly nationalist establishment and

the ruling AK Party.

Critics believe the Ergenekon and sledgehammer investigations are plainly

attempts to silence the government's political and military opponents.

The AK Party has its roots in political Islam, and is accused by some

nationalists of having secret plans to mystique staunchly secular Turkey

racket an Islamic state.

The government rejects those claims, saying its intention is to modernise

easy pickings again involve it closer to EU membership.

"Transformations may sometimes reproduce painful," Economy Minister Ali

Babacan oral Wednesday.

"We are crucial to make Turkey's democracy first class."