Former Turkish Army Chief of Staff Thrown In Jail For Government Overthrow Plot

This picture taken in Ankara on August 1, 2010 shows Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) leaving after a wreath-laying ceremony as he is flanked by Chief of Staff General Ilker Basbug (L) at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey.—AFP Photo


As we have seen in the recent past, the islamists in control of Turkey's government often show their paranoia of the secularist military and today is no exception as we learn that the ex-Army chief, Ilker Basbug, has been arrested in thrown into jail for an alleged attempt to overthrow the radical islamist government of Turkey.

From the article at DAWN:

Turkey’s former army chief Ilker Basbug was arrested Friday over an alleged bid to topple the Turkish government, the Anatolia news agency reported on Friday.

“The 26th chief of staff of the Turkish republic has unfortunately been placed in preventive detention for setting up and leading a terrorist group and of attempting to overthrow the government,” Ilkay Sezer, a lawyer for Basbug, was quoted as saying by Anatolia.

Dozens of army officers have been jailed in recent years as part of several investigations into alleged plots targeting the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

But it is the first time in the history of the republic that a former chief of the Turkish military has been arrested.

Basbug, who retired in 2010, is the highest-ranking officer in a massive investigation into the so-called Ergenekon network, accused of plotting to topple the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Let's make no bones about it - the AKP ruling party wants nothing more than to turn Turkey into another Iran - they want their theocratic regime and they want it now. That's even with a Turkish constitution that demands that the government be secular. And in the past, the military has always sided with the constitution.

Erdogan has apparently fancied himself like some sort of Ayatollah and one has to wonder if any political party will ever be allowed to displace the AKP.

Turkish ex-army chief arrested for anti-govt plot


ISTANBUL: Turkey’s former army chief Ilker Basbug was arrested Friday over an alleged bid to topple the Turkish government, the Anatolia news agency reported on Friday.

“The 26th chief of staff of the Turkish republic has unfortunately been placed in preventive detention for setting up and leading a terrorist group and of attempting to overthrow the government,” Ilkay Sezer, a lawyer for Basbug, was quoted as saying by Anatolia.

Dozens of army officers have been jailed in recent years as part of several investigations into alleged plots targeting the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

But it is the first time in the history of the republic that a former chief of the Turkish military has been arrested.

Basbug, who retired in 2010, is the highest-ranking officer in a massive investigation into the so-called Ergenekon network, accused of plotting to topple the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The arrest came hours after Basbug testified as a suspect at an Istanbul court on Thursday as part of a probe into an alleged Internet campaign to discredit the government.

Among the allegations is an attempt by a group of army officers to establish websites to disseminate anti-government propaganda in order to destabilise the country.

Turkey’s military, which considers itself as the guardian of secularism, has carried out three coups – in 1960, 1971 and 1980.

This latest move appears to be a fresh warning to the military whose political influence has decreased since the AKP came to power in 2002.

Basbug was later sent to a prison at Istanbul’s Silivri prison where other suspects of alleged Ergenekon network are jailed.