Turkey's government sparred with the military on Thursday amid tension over the trials of retired and active military officers and other alleged coup plotters, some of whom have been in jail for years. This week, top prosecutors investigating the alleged plots by hard-line secularists against the Islam-based government were replaced in what analysts saw as an effort to restore confidence in the judiciary's handling of the cases.
Hundreds of people, including military figures, academics and journalists, are accused of involvement in conspiracies to topple the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which seeks a third term in elections in June. Around 400 people, including some of Erdogan's fiercest critics, have been on trial since 2008, charged with terrorism offenses as part of an alleged anti-government network called Ergenekon. Oz accused them of trying to pave the way for a military take-over in 2003 through attacks designed to create chaos and trigger a military takeover.
Another 163 retired and active military officers were also jailed on suspicion of plotting a separate coup in a case known as Sledgehammer. The military, perpetrator of coups in the past, says the case is based on documents presented to a military seminar where scenarios of how to handle internal strife were discussed.
On Wednesday, the military criticised decisions to keep more than 100 active duty officers jailed pending the outcome of the trial, saying it could not understand the lengthy detentions. The statement on the military's website drew sharp rebukes from ruling party officials, who accused the armed forces of interfering with the independence of the judiciary.
"Court decisions may not be to everyone's liking," Huseyin Celik, a lawmaker with the Justice and Development Party, said Thursday. "However, if an armed organisation reacts and makes an official statement, this amounts to interference in the judiciary." Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Sahin made similar remarks, according to Turkey's Anatolia news agency. Supporters of the coup plot trials hail them as a pillar of democratic reform, an opportunity to unveil an alleged network of armed extremists with links to the state who targeted perceived enemies over the decades.
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