Turkey - coup investigation

Turkish police detain 26 people in alleged coup plot

Article published on the 2009-04-14 Latest update 2009-04-21 10:54 TU

Anti-AKP demonstrators in 2007
(Photo: Reuters)

Turkish police on Monday detained 26 people, including two university rectors and a journalist, as part of an investigation into an alleged plot to topple Turkey's government, media reports said. The long-running probe has targeted many journalists, intellectuals, and former army and political officials who are critical of the current government.

The detentions were part of a probe into a group of nationalists and secularists called Ergenekon. The group allegedly planned to create unrest by staging political murders in hopes of prompting a military coup against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which some opponents claim has a secret Islamist agenda.

Since the probe began, tensions have increased between the AKP and its opponents. Some have accused the AKP of using the probe to take revenge on political oppenents who failed in a 2008 bid to have the party outlawed for alleged anti-secular activity.

The most prominent suspect detained on Monday was Professor Mehmet Haberal, the rector of Baskent University in Ankara and owner of the Kanal B television channel. Police searched the headquarters of the channel, which is known for its defence of the country's strict secular order.

Also among the detained were Osman Metin Ozturk, the rector of Giresun University, and two former rectors of other universities, Ferit Bernay and Hilmioglu, according to the Anatolia news agency.

Police also held Erol Manisali, a journalist for the secularist newspaper Cumhuriyet, and Mustafa Yurtkuran, the deputy head of a secularist non-governmental organisation that was prominent in 2007's anti-government demonstrations.

After initially being hailed a success, the Ergenekon investigation has been increasingly criticised for targeting journalists, academics, and intellectuals that are known critics of the government.

In October, 86 people, including many journalists, politicians and former army officers, were accused of belonging to a terrorist organisation and of planning to topple the government.

Prosecutors indicted 56 other people in March who were accused of similar charges.