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Turkish police arrest 30 more over alleged coup plot

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Turkish police on Thursday arrested approximately 30 more people, including eight army officers, nine policemen, and a union leader, in an investigation of an alleged plot to overthrow the government of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The latest arrests included journalist Unal Inanc, political polling analyst Erhan Goksel, Turkish Metal Union Chairman Mustafa Ozbek and several other union officials, and numerous members of a police special operations unit whose leader was arrested earlier this month. Police are reportedly continuing to search additional suspects' homes and businesses, including television station ART. Also Thursday, Turkish prosecutors announced an investigation into a program televised on the state-run TRT-2, which included interviews with a witness in the Ergenekon group case. The group is allegedly responsible for bombing the headquarters of the newspaper Cumhuriyet, assassinating Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, and planning other attacks to provoke a military coup to topple the AKP. Thursday marked the third wave of arrests connected to the alleged plot this month, with approximately 40 arrested January 7 and 12 more on January 11. There are currently more than 100 suspects in custody, including journalists, academics, and Turkish Workers' Party leader Dogu Perincek. All were outspoken opponents of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose AKP party narrowly escaped a ban last year for purportedly undermining the country's secular principles. In October, the High Criminal Court in Istanbul began the trial of 86 defendants in the coup investigation. The accused are said to belong to the secular Ergenekon group, which critics allege has been improperly investigated by the AKP as part of a drive to impose Islamic principles on the country in violation of the its secular constitution.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 22, 2009 (boomark / email).