ISTANBUL: Eighty-six people were indicted on charges of plotting to overthrow a government accused by militant secularists of leading Turkey by stealth toward Islamic rule.
Some opponents of the government, which denies any secret Islamist agenda, call the controversial coup case revenge for court moves to outlaw the ruling AK Party and ban Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul from party politics.
Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin filed the indictment yesterday after months of intense media speculation about the case, that has hit financial markets and unsettled foreign investors who have helped fire strong economic growth.
“The indictment covers crimes such as forming an armed terror group ... and attempting to overthrow the government by force,” Engin told reporters at a news conference in the garden of an Istanbul court house.
In the last 50 years, military coups have unseated four elected governments in Turkey.
The indictment targets the shadowy ultranationalist group, Ergenekon, which first came to light a year ago when a cache of explosives was discovered in a police raid on an Istanbul house.
The near 2,500-page indictment named 86 defendants, of which 48 are in custody. They include the head of a small nationalist party, a nationalist newspaper editor and retired army officers.
It was not clear which defendants were facing which charges. The charges also include incitement to armed insurrection, aiding a terror group and possession of explosives.
Vural Ergul, a lawyer for one of the suspects, criticized the investigation in comments after the indictment was filed, state-run Anatolian news agency reported.
“What should be discussed is the flouting of suspects’ rights, the endangering of their personal safety and the crushing of the principle of democratic law in the Ergenekon investigation,” Ergul said.
