ISTANBUL (AFP) – The probe into an alleged coup plot against Turkey’s Islamist-rooted government is being used to intimidate critics, lawyers said yesterday, a day after police detained dozens in dawn raids.

“We are deeply concerned... by the investigation, which is conducted without proper care to legal needs and almost in a spirit of revenge,” Muammer Aydin, the head of the Istanbul bar association, told a news conference.

“The aim is to create an atmosphere of fear with the arrests and to intimidate the public,” Aydin said, calling for a swift end to the probe which has been going on for more than a year.

His remarks came one day after up to 40 people were detained in dawn raids in at least six provinces as part of the probe into Ergenekon, an alleged gang of anti-government secularists.

They included Yalcin Kucuk, a prominent but controversial academic and author, Kemal Guruz, the former head of Turkey’s higher education watchdog, three retired generals and at least seven serving officers.

Police also searched the homes of Sabih Kanadoglu, the country’s former chief prosecutor without detaining him – and an ex-mayor of Istanbul, Bedrettin Dalan.

Dalan, a prominent businessman, is currently in the United States, and police detained his son, media reports said.

Kucuk, Guruz, and retired general Tuncer Kilinc are all known for their opposition to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and their arrest raised questions of possible political meddling in the investigation.

Many in Turkey believe the AKP is using the probe to strike back at political opponents after their failed bid last year to have the Constitutional Court outlaw the party for anti-secular activity.

But Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin denied the allegations. “This is solely a judicial matter; it is not political,” he said Wednesday.

Turkish army brass held an emergency six-hour meeting late Wednesday to discuss the arrests and the Supreme Appeals Court is scheduled to hold a similar meeting later yesterday.

Wednesday’s arrests were the latest wave in the Ergenekon investigation, which began in June 2007 with the discovery of hand grenades belonging to a soldier in an Istanbul shantytown.

In October, 86 people – retired army officers, politicians, journalists and underworld figures – went on trial, accused of membership in Ergenekon and of plotting to topple the AKP government.

The indictment accused the defendants of planning violence and assassinations to foment political turmoil and pave the way for a military coup.