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Turkey Charges 7 Over Military Coup Plot

   VOA News 24 February 2010
   Guards  stand  at  the  entrance of the Turkish army's headquarters in
   Ankara, Turkey (2009 file photo)

Photo: AP

   Guards  stand  at  the  entrance of the Turkish army's headquarters in
   Ankara, Turkey (2009 file photo)

   A  Turkish  court  has  charged seven senior military officers over an
   alleged plot to overthrow the Islamist-rooted government.
   Turkish  media  report  that  four  admirals,  an army general and two
   colonels were ordered jailed Wednesday while they await trial.
   On  Monday,  authorities arrested some 49 military figures believed to
   be behind the plot, dubbed the "sledgehammer" plan.
   Turkey's  military  held  a  top-level meeting Tuesday to discuss what
   they called a "serious situation."
   Turkish  media  say  the  plot,  devised  in  2003,  included plans to
   destabilize  the government by planting bombs in mosques and provoking
   Greece to shoot down a Turkish jet.
   The   mass  arrests  highlight  deepening  tensions  between  Turkey's
   Islamist-rooted  ruling  party, the Justice and Development Party, and
   the  military,  which  considers  itself the guardian of the country's
   secular tradition.
   The military has ousted four Turkish governments in the past 50 years.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

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