Turkey ex-army chief arrested for alleged bid to topple govt

FE Team | Published: January 07, 2012 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Ilker Basbug

ISTANBUL, Jan 6, (AFP): Turkey's former army chief Ilker Basbug was arrested Friday over an alleged bid to topple the Islamist-rooted government in the latest confrontation likely to inflame tensions with the powerful military.
"The 26th chief of staff of the Turkish republic has unfortunately been placed in preventive detention for setting up and leading a terrorist group and of attempting to overthrow the government," Ilkay Sezer, a lawyer for Basbug, was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.
It is the first time in the history of the Turkish republic that a former chief of the Turkish military has been arrested as a suspect.
However, dozens of active and retired military officers, academics, journalists and lawyers have been detained in recent years in probes into alleged plots against the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Basbug, who retired in 2010, is the highest-ranking officer caught up in a massive investigation into the so-called Ergenekon network, accused of plotting to topple Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).
His arrest came hours after he testified as a suspect at an Istanbul court on Thursday as part of a probe into an alleged Internet campaign to discredit the government.
"The commander of such an army facing charges of forming and leading an armed organisation is really tragicomic," the 68-year-old general told prosecutors, Anatolia reported.
"I always followed the law and the constitution throughout my tenure."
"It is up to the esteemed nation to make a judgement" on his arrest, he was also quoted as saying by the private NTV television as he was leaving the Istanbul courthouse.