Istanbul: Three former Turkish military
chiefs testified today over an alleged plot to discredit the
Islamist-rooted government and bring about its overthrow,
Anatolia news agency reported.
The former heads of the army, the air force and the navy,
respectively Aytac Yalman, Ibrahim Firtina and Ozden Ornek,
gave evidence for several hours to prosecutors on the
so-called Ergenekon network.
Ergenekon is a nationalist-secularist network which
allegedly had a broader plan to plunge Turkey into political
chaos, using assassinations of prominent people, to pave the
way for a coup against the ruling Justice and Development
Party (AKP), which opponents accuse of undermining Turkey's
secular system.
The three ex-military chiefs were still in service in
2004 when military forces twice attempted to seize power,
according to an indictment in the Ergenekon probe under way
since October last year.
The Turkish chief of the general staff at the time,
General Hilmi Ozkok, has also been questioned by
investigators. Turkish media has speculated that Ozkok,
considered a moderate, was responsible for stopping the coup
attempts.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, December 05, 2009, 23:59