Turkish police have arrested 20 people, ending a yearlong investigation into a group called Ergenekon, which local media describes as an ultra-nationalist group planning bombings that would trigger a military takeover.
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to the media in Ankara, Turkey.
Photo: AP
Among the suspects are two former military commanders, a journalist from a pro-secular newspaper and the chairman of the Ankara chamber of Commerce.
The arrests came at critical time in Turkish politics as the Turkish Constitutional Court convened earlier this week to start a trial against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The indictment against the AKP, which is charged for its alleged involvement in anti-secularist activities, was filed on March 14 by the country's Chief Prosecutor 'Abd A-Rahman Yalçınkaya. The chief prosecutor demanded the party be dissolved and that 71 of its members, including President 'Abdallah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, be banned from political activity for five years.
The popular AKP won a landslide victory in July 2007, but has not been able to calm those who believed it was about to promote an Islamist agenda.
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