Turkey - coup investigation

5,000 protestors back trial of coup leaders

Article published on the 2009-07-19 Latest update 2009-07-19 14:57 TU

Retired General Hursit Tolon after his detention by police in July 2008
(Photo: Reuters)

Around 5,000 people gathered in Istanbul on Saturday in support of an investigation into an alleged coup plot against the Turkish government.

People wearing white gloves, attended the protest on Istiklal Avenue, one of the main commercial streets in the country’s capital.

"They were holding up placards saying, ‘let the coup-makers be prosecuted’", says correspondent Jasper Mortimer. "What happened was that news reports emerged, that the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors were moving towards replacing the prosecutors in the Ergenekon trial," he added.

The demonstration occurred two days before 56 suspects go on trial for allegedly planning political murders to initiate a military coup.

"They are being charged with subversion and forming a terrorist organisation," Mortimer told RFI.

The prosecution are likely to push for life sentences against two retired generals, Sener Eruygur and Hursit Tolon, who are accused of being senior leaders of Ergenekon – a nationalist secularist network. But there was a worry that the prosecutors in the trial would be changed.

"If it were to happen, it would certainly cripple the trial, because the prosecutors know an awful lot, and it would be a move to undermine the trial," said Mortimer, speaking from Ankara.

"Newspaper reports have alleged that the council member who proposed prosecutors reassignment, had himself contact with some of the defendants in the trial," he said.

A coalition of leftist and Islamist civic organisations were responsible for organising the protest.

Turkey became a candidate for EU membership in 1999 and this trial is seen as an important milestone for their entry into the 27-member bloc.

"Certainly it will improve Turkey’s chances of being admitted to the EU, and EU officials are watching this case very closely," said Mortimer.