Cetin Dogan, former head of Turkey's prestigious First Army, was one of the most senior figures to be charged during a wave of military detentions in February which revived tension between the government and armed forces, the self-appointed guardians of Turkey's secularism.

Dogan spent a month in custody before being released at the start of April pending trial. Prosecutors then ordered his re-arrest, although this was delayed to allow him to have treatment for a hernia in hospital.

Scores of officers have been detained and charged over the alleged "Sledgehammer" plot. Some were later freed on bail and others rearrested.

Turkey's military, which is the second largest in NATO, says there is no conspiracy and Operation Sledgehammer was merely a war game exercise presented at a seminar.

The operation involved bombing mosques and provoking Greece into shooting down a Turkish war plane to create a war-like situation and destabilize the government.

Few analysts believe the army would launch a coup, although it has overthrown three governments since 1960, and pressured Turkey's first hard-line government into resignation in 1997.