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Osman Orsal / Reuters file
General Ilker Basbug salutes during a military exercise in Izmir, Turkey, on May 26, 2010.
SILIVRI, Turkey -- The trial of a Turkish former armed forces chief accused of heading a terrorist group is due to begin on Monday.
General Ilker Basbug branded the case against him as tragi-comic when he was first detained in January. While bewildered by the accusations, he said he was not shocked, given how prosecutors have pursued other officers in the past three years.
Basbug, chief of staff from 2008 to 2010, is accused of being a leader of a shadowy network dubbed "Ergenekon", said to be behind a string of alleged, but as yet unproven, plots against the government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
Ex-head of NATO's 2nd-largest army held over plot
Ilkay Sezer, the general's lawyer, is expected to ask for the case to be transferred to the Supreme Court, as befitting a state official of Basbug's seniority, though earlier requests were rejected.
The 68-year-old retiree is the most senior officer among hundreds of secularists facing conspiracy and terrorism charges.
For many Turks it had appeared increasingly likely that the special prosecutors, given free rein to investigate by the government, would work their way to the top of the military chain of command in their hunt for anti-government conspiracies.
During his pre-trial detention Basbug has shared a cell with two other generals in the top-security prison at Silivri, west of Istanbul, where a courtroom has been specially built to hear Ergenekon- and "Sledgehammer"-related cases.
War game or blueprints for a coup?
Police say they discovered Ergenekon when they seized a secret arms cache in 2007, yet many Turks still doubt it exists.
Basbug is just a witness in the Sledgehammer case, which revolves around a 2003 seminar that prosecutors say contained blueprints for a coup, though the military says it was just a war game. Some 365 people are being tried in the case.
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Turkey's generals traditionally saw themselves as guardians of the secular state envisaged by the republic's founder, soldier-statesman Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Like the judiciary, they distrusted Erdogan and other members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) with an Islamist past.
The military staged three coups between 1960 and 1980 and forced an Islamist prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan, to quit in 1997. These days, however, it is Erdogan who cracks the whip in Turkey as he enters his second decade in power.
'Black propaganda'
On April 4, the court in Ankara will hold the first hearing in the trial of generals who led the 1980 coup, including 94-year-old former military chief and ex-president Kenan Evren.
The case against Basbug features websites allegedly set up by the military to spread "black propaganda" against the government until 2008.
Tension between the military and the AKP was running high in 2007 when the generals opposed the nomination of Abdullah Gul for the presidency because of his Islamist pedigree. They never regained their clout after failing to cow Erdogan and Gul.
With strong public support, the AKP government brought the military to heel with democratic reforms. Endless investigations into coup plots tarnished the image of the once untouchable top brass.
Basbug has denied the charges against him, and his lawyer told Reuters earlier this month that the indictment was filled with inconsistencies and lacked credibility.
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Ahh these Muslim nations tend to have two governments. One via elections, the other being the military.
You forgot the third one being the koran and those who use it to control the masses. The Taliban was not elected. Until muslim nations practice seperation of church and state then they will be backwards.
This is a step in the wrong direction on Turkey's part.
"You forgot the third one being the koran and those who use it to control the masses. The Taliban was not elected. Until muslim nations practice seperation of church and state then they will be backwards.
This is a step in the wrong direction on Turkey's part."
They did practice separation of church and state and still do as much as the United States does. It was only after our DUMB F#CK president Bush decided to invade Iraq for no good reason and Turkey got sh!t on, that the poor and ignorant decided to elect an ultra conservative and religious government. Remind you of anything? I will never vote Republican after Bush has nearly bankrupt us and the party that has strayed so far from its roots is blaming Obama for the sh!t Bush did and will not take responsibility. If any of these idiots win besides Ron Paul, expect the same thing that is happening in Turkey but much worse.
Turkey's senior military officers have long been the guardians of secular government, and have often fought to prevent the inclusion of Islam within the government. While Turkey's president has claimed he does not support making Turkey an Islamic state, a lot of people believe Gul and Erdogan are trying to purge the military of current and retired senior officers who would fight to keep Turkey strictly secular. Over the last few years, Turkey's senior officials have been going after military officers who have the power or reputation to challenge the government. Essentially, they are trying to purge Turkey of anyone who could stand in the way of a more conservative Islamist government.
"Ergenekon" is the trumped up conspiracy that Erdogan and his Islamist allies have used to purge the military of secular officers and replace them with Islamist officers. It is also used to purge the judiciary, press, and anyone else who they think might threaten their new regime. Unfortunately they have popular support and that's all that matters these days.
The miliary purge is now virtually complete and all that's left to do is stage one big final kangaroo court trial to confirm the fact.
Mustafa Kemel Ataturk's secular Turkey lasted for about 75 year but has finally been overthrown by the very Islamists he specifically warned against.
Separation of mosque and state is no more in Turkey.
I keep hearing about this, isn’t being a terrorist or linked to terror groups one of the things he’s accused of? It would appear the wests obsession with “the war on terror” has given some extremists just the chance they were looking for.
When Turks talk about terrorism they are referring primarily to Kurdish separatists in S. and S.E. Turkey. That should help explain it.
I hope all military members who supported the terrorists go to jail and sentence life-long prison. These guys did obey the rules of other foreign countries, support the terrorists' actions and kill thousands of innocent people for their benefits. Now, it is time for them to pay the price for what they have done in the past.
PM Erdogan's g'ment is on the road to a complete totalitarian 'Ottoman lite' state. Easiest way to detain and charge anyone dissenting is to brand them 'terrorists'. This is the exact path taken by the Nationalist Socialist Workers; Party in Germany- they used special prosecutors- the made laws (and Executive Orders) enabling the totalitarian g'ment to go after all their ' dissenting real, imaginary enemies of the State, dehumanizing them as rejects of humanity etc. This is happening in Turkey- all military brass is suspect (mil.now under Erdogan's thumb)-sham charges by special prosecutors-detainment in prisons w/o charges- press reporters jailed (109 is the count by outsiders) w/o charges-their offices confiscated- their newspapers closed on the order of Erdogan's special security forces- their editors thrown into jail w/o charges. Kurds are the enemies of the State according to Erdogan- remember the earthquake in Van- Erdogan's minions did not want to help them (Now you want our help?- the slogan of that day)- killing of Kurds walking on a trail- in the US overseen Predator video they looked 'terrorists'. Turkey is killing willy-nilly Kurds in SE Turkey-in Iraq- and now is trying to bolster the claim that the Kurds in Syria are helping Assad and Turkey is prepared to 'eradicate' Kurds there too. It is not the Turkish people- it is the g'ment on a path to totalitarianism that is contaminated with the plague (bacillus ottomanius incorrectus).
These have the appearance of political arrests rather than criminal. Wish I had more facts to go on.
Ever since the Susurluk scandal they Turkish government has been trying to pin a myriad of plots onto one (possibly fictional) scapegoat and be done with it. The fact is that there is never just one bad guy in a country. Pretending there is will only make it easier for the real groups to operate.