ISTANBUL: Two retired generals who led Turkey's armed forces at the time of an alleged 2003 coup plot told a retrial of hundreds of officers on Monday that they knew of no plans to topple then-Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

The officers were convicted in 2012 for plotting a coup against Erdogan, now president. The constitutional court quashed their convictions in June, ruling the case against them flawed.

The 2010-2012 "Sledgehammer" trial was a high point in Erdogan's drive to tame an army that for decades had dominated politics. Critics accused him at the time of using the courts to pursue a "witchhunt" against the generals.

In sending senior officers to jail, the case eroded the authority and power of NATO's second biggest army at a time of tensions on the borders with Syria and Iraq. The retrial is seen as an opportunity for the military to repair its image.