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."