ERGENEKON: ΑΡΧΙΣΕ ΤΟ ΞΗΛΩΜΑ ΤΗΣ ΠΙΟ ΕΠΙΚΙΝΔΥΝΗΣ ΟΡΓΑΝΩΣΗΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ

Latest Ergenekon arrests: two retired generals, journalist, ATO head

Turkish police have detained two retired generals, a leading businessman and a senior journalist, hours ahead of the first hearing in a closure case against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

The Anatolia news agency reported that said Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) Chairman Sinan Aygün and the former head of the gendarmerie forces, retired Gen. Şener Eruygur, were among those detained. Retired Gen. Hurşit Tolon and journalist Mustafa Balbay, the Ankara representative of the staunchly secular Cumhuriyet daily, are also said to be in custody.

Turkish media reports suggest the sweep is linked to a probe into a shadowy ultra-nationalist, hard-line secularist group, known as Ergenekon, which has been accused of seeking to engineer a coup against the government. Dozens of people had previously been detained for suspected links to the group, including retired army officers. The military — which has repeatedly criticized the government and considers itself the guardian of Turkey's secular system — has denied any links to the group.

Reports stated the İstanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office had ordered the detentions and that police also raided the Ankara bureau of Cumhuriyet and the İstanbul office of the Atatürkist Thought Association (ADD), headed by Eruygur.

NTV news channel said a total of 24 people were detained in the Ankara and in Turkey's largest city, İstanbul. However, Ankara police spokesman Mevlut Amir, said, "We cannot say at the moment how many were detained and why they were detained."

Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya will make a verbal statement at the Constitutional Court today in the closure case he filed against the ruling AK Party. The AK Party will present its verbal defense on Thursday.

TODAY'S ZAMAN WITH WIRES