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February 23, 2010

Turkey Arrests Former Generals in Alleged Coup Plot
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More than forty people have been arrested in Turkey in connection with
an alleged plot to trigger a military takeover of the Islamic-rooted
government. The detained include three of Turkey’s highest-ranking
former generals. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said fourteen other
former high-ranking military officers were also detained. The arrests
have been described as one of the toughest actions against the powerful
Turkish military in the history of modern Turkey. The generals are
accused of plotting several plots on civilian targets, including a
mosque in central Istanbul, and to provoke a crisis with neighboring
Greece, with a goal of paving the way for a coup. The Turkish military
has ousted four governments over the past half century.



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