ANKARA – Turkish Prime Minister RecepTayyip Erdogan, fighting in court for his and the governing party’s political survival, said yesterday political tensions would be fixed and that democracy was not under threat.

Turkey was rocked this week by reports that an ultra-nationalist illegal organization planned to trigger a military coup against the government. The widening police investigation comes as the Justice and Development Party (AKP) defends itself in court against charges of trying to introduce Islamic rule.

The party could be closed down, a move that might lead to an early parliamentary election in the EU-applicant country.

“I want to stress once again that the democratic system is working with its institutions and rules in Turkey within the framework of the law,” Erdogan told AKP members. “Turkey has the experience to overcome this painful period and solve its problems with its domestic dynamics. Nobody should be worried,” he said in comments broadcast live on television.

Twenty-one people, including two retired senior generals, prominent journalists and politicians, were detained on Tuesday for suspected links to the so-called Ergenekon organization.

Five of the suspects were released yesterday but are still set to face charges.

CNN Turk said retired first army commander General Hursit Tolon and retired gendarmerie forces commander General Sener Eruygur had been sent to an Istanbul court yesterday.

Turkish newspapers said documents seized during police raids showed that the shadowy, hardline secularist organization planned a series of violent events with the aim of forcing the military to intervene to restore order.

Turkish opposition parties have accused the government of using the Ergenekon probe to hit back at critics of the ruling AKP as it fights for its survival in court.

“We think it is not right that unfounded allegations should be made before the (Ergenekon) indictment is announced,” Erdogan said.

Political analysts said the domestic turmoil came within the framework of a long-running battle between a secularist elite, including army generals and judges, and the popular AKP, whose grass roots come from more religious backgrounds.

Turkish opposition and business leaders have called on President Abdullah Gul to help calm tensions.

“I attach great importance to not damaging Turkey’s national interests, strategic goals and credibility of its institutions. I am holding meetings, which are not known by (the media), and will continue to do so,” Gul told reporters.

Turkish secularists accuse the AKP, which won an overwhelming re-election last year, of seeking to weaken the founding principles of modern Turkey by allowing Islam to have a more prominent place in public life.

The AKP denies the Islamist charges, and says they are politically motivated. It points to its pro-business, pro-reform track record in office.

The Constitutional Court is expected to rule within three to six weeks on whether or not to close down the AKP for allegedly seeking to turn Turkey into an Islamic state.