By Ali Berat Meric and Steve Bryant
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) — Turkish police detained at least 40 people as part of a probe into an alleged coup plot by senior military officers, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
The case is a matter for the judiciary, Erdogan told reporters in Madrid today, declining to give further details. Ibrahim Firtina, the former air force chief, and ex-admiral Ozden Ornek were among those taken into custody in police operations in Ankara, Istanbul, Bursa and Izmir, state-run news agency Anatolia said, citing unidentified police officials.
The arrests follow a report in Taraf newspaper on Jan. 21 that army officers had drafted a plan in 2003 to stage bombings that would undermine confidence in Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted government. It’s the latest escalation of tensions between Erdogan and the military, which is tasked with maintaining the constitutional separation of state and religion.
The detentions reflect “an increasingly open war” between the governing Justice and Development Party and its secularist opponents, Wolfango Piccoli, an analyst for the Eurasia Group, a New York-based company that measures political risk, wrote in an e-mailed report. The power struggle raises “the risk of a head- on confrontation that would badly damage political stability.”
Stocks, Lira Fall
Turkish stocks and the lira fell after the raids were reported. The main ISE National 100 share index dropped 1.4 percent to 52,592.88 at the close of trading in Istanbul. The lira declined 1 percent to 1.5285 per dollar.
The prosecutors who ordered today’s detentions were acting within their rights and independent of any government instructions, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said in an interview with CNN Turk television.
Chief of General Staff Ilker Basbug on Jan. 25 called the allegations published in Taraf “unconscionable” and said they were part of a campaign of psychological warfare designed to undermine public trust in the armed forces. Basbug postponed a planned visit to Egypt today after the arrests, CNN Turk said.
In 2007 Erdogan called early general elections after the army criticized his choice of Abdullah Gul as president because of his Islamist past. Erdogan won re-election with 47 percent of the vote, the biggest share any Turkish party had drawn in almost 40 years, and promoted Gul to the presidency. The next election is due by July 2011.
Several former army officers as well as journalists, trade unionists and academics are already being tried on charges of plotting a coup against Erdogan’s government in 2003.
Police also searched the homes of retired generals and the offices of military research and fund-raising foundations today, Anatolia said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Steve Bryant in Ankara at [email protected]. Ali Berat Meric in Ankara at
Last Updated: February 22, 2010 10:54 EST
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