Turkish police arrested 30 people, including army officers and a police chief, in a nation-wide sweep on Thursday for suspects in an alleged coup plot that has rattled markets and fuelled tensions with the army. Eight active army officers and nine police, including special forces officers, were detained, broadcasters said.
A search was underway for an army lieutenant in western Turkey, state-run Anatolian news agency said. A regional police chief and an officer were also taken to Istanbul for questioning, and more detentions were taking place from Bursa in the west to Igdir in the east. The leader of a metal union and a journalist were also arrested and police were searching the offices of the metal union.
Eighty-six people, including retired senior officers, are on trial over their suspected links to a nationalist group known as "Ergenekon" that is accused of plotting to overthrow the Islamist-rooted AK Party government in EU candidate Turkey. A wave of detentions earlier this month, including active officers, further strained relations between the government and the secular establishment made up of the military and judiciary.
Turkey's powerful military, which has unseated governments four times in the past 50 years, has criticised the investigation and denied any links to an alleged plot to conduct bombings and assassinations to clear the way for a coup. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is due to hold a scheduled meeting with Turkey's military commander General Ilker Basbug later on Thursday in an effort to decrease tensions brought on in part by the Ergenekon investigation.
Critics say the governing AK Party is carrying out the arrests as revenge for a 2008 court case that sought to ban the party for anti-secular activities. The ruling AK Party, which embraces centre-right elements and nationalists as well as religious conservatives, denies this.