Turkish prosecution seeks jail terms for suspected army plotters

17/03/2010

ANKARA, Turkey -- A prosecutor has requested 15 years of jail for each of three admirals suspected of plotting a coup to destabilise the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, local media reported Tuesday (March 16th). The admirals are part of a group of 33 suspects mentioned in the indictment, which also includes colonels and other army officers. In January Turkey launched an investigation into an alleged plot code-named "Cage". The operation began after a report in the Taraf newspaper, which said the plot involved provocation of a conflict with Greece in the Aegean Sea and bomb attacks against some of Istanbul's most popular mosques. These actions were allegedly aimed to create an impression that the government cannot guarantee national security and that the army should be engaged to deal with the chaos. The Cage case is expected to be merged with another similar case dubbed Poyrazkoy on Friday by Istanbul's 12th Court of serious crimes. The court previously accepted the two cases separately. Poyrazkoy is directly related to the Ergenekon crime network case, which is investigating an organisation for overthrowing the government. Munitions that belonged to the military were found in Istanbul's Poyrazkoy district last April. Civilian prosecutors asked for merging the cases, which in turn would put both of them in relation with Ergenekon. If the Cage indictment is merged with the Poyrazkoy case on Friday, a new wave of arrests could in the following days, analysts forecast. (Reuters, Sabah - 16/03/10)