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25 February 2010

Turkey Still Trying to Sort Out the Non-Coup

The Army is in deep poop, and the political leaders are trying to sort out what it means for the government.

Turkey's political and military leaders met on Thursday over a coup plot probe that has raised tensions between the secular armed forces and Islamist-rooted government, rattling investor faith in the EU-candidate country.
The meeting is taking place as prosecutors get set to question and possibly charge former commanders of the air force and navy at a courthouse in Istanbul, threatening to aggravate the showdown between the ruling AK Party and military.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul began a meeting with armed forces chief General Ilker Basbug at 11 am (0900 GMT) with room for compromise to prevent the crisis from spinning out of control seen as limited.
Some 50 senior officers were detained on Monday in an unprecedented move against the armed forces.
Twenty of them, including several admirals, have already been charged with plotting in 2003 to overthrow the government, which hard-line secularists believe harbors a hidden Islamist agenda.


By: Brant

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