Turkey's military will not prosecute a senior officer over a reported plot to destabilise the Islamist-rooted government as it is not clear if the document is authentic, military prosecutors said on Wednesday. The plot, published this month by liberal daily Taraf, laid out an alleged military plan crafted by a navy colonel to stop the ruling AK Party and a religious movement from "destroying Turkey's secular order and replacing it by an Islamist state".
State news agency Anatolian reported on Wednesday that military prosecutors said the document allegedly signed by the colonel and published in Taraf was not produced at military General Staff headquarters as reported by Turkish media. The findings cast doubt on the authenticity of the report. There was no immediate reaction from the AK Party, which has its roots in political Islam, and has frequently clashed with the military.
The controversy has further strained relations between the government and the powerful military, which were already under pressure over a separate investigation into a suspected right-wing network accused of plotting a coup. A power struggle between the AK Party and the secularist establishment, including army generals, judges and academics, has frequently led to political tension in Turkey.
The secularist elite accuses the AK Party of harbouring a plan to undermine the separation of state and religion. The party denies this. Turkey's military has a long history of intervening in politics. The prosecutors' findings did not affect Turkish financial markets. Analysts see little risk of the military staging a coup because of strong public support for the AK Party and concern any such move would hurt the reputation of the armed forces.