Turkish probe into coup plot leads to more arrests

University chief and media board director among 18 detained

Women are seen holding national flags and a poster of modern Turkey’s founder Kemal Ataturk near his mausoleum in Ankara in this April 14, 2007 file photo. Police yesterday detained 12 people in a probe into an alleged secularist conspiracy to topple the government.

By Ibon Villelabeitia - Reuters

ANKARA – Turkish police detained 18 people, including a university head and an anti-government media executive, yesterday in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the government, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.

The detentions were part of an operation against the shadowy ultra-nationalist Ergenekon group which has increased tension between the government of the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) and secularists, including the military.

In raids that fueled accusations of an anti-government witch hunt, police also searched the offices of two nongovernmental groups that took part in mass demonstrations against the AKP government in 2007, including the staunchly secular Ataturk Thought Association, Anatolia said.

Among those detained was Tijen Mergen, who sits on the executive board of Dogan Gazetecilik, a unit of Turkey’s biggest media group Dogan Yayin Holding, the agency said.

Shares in Dogan Gazetecilik were down 4.38 percent on news of Mergen’s detention, traders said.

Dogan Yayin, which owns the top-selling Hurriyet daily, has been embroiled in a legal battle with the government since it was fined $500 million this year for alleged tax violations.

The fine came after months of public mudslinging between Dogan newspapers and the government, prompting some, including the US State Department, to question the level of press freedom in the European Union candidate country.

Nearly 150 people, including retired senior military officers, lawyers, academics and journalists, are on trial for their links to Ergenekon. Prosecutors say the group was planning a campaign of bombings and attacks to force the army to step in against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.

Government critics see the investigation as revenge for a failed 2008 lawsuit to ban the AKP on the grounds of anti-secular activities. The AKP denies the case is politically motivated. The tension surrounding Ergenekon has unsettled financial markets.

Also yesterday, the government announced the economy would contract 3.6 percent in 2009, slashing an earlier forecast of 4 percent growth in the wake of the the global financial crisis.

Among those detained were Mehmet Haberal, head of Baskent University in Ankara, and three former college heads in the Black Sea city of Samsun, in the eastern city of Malatya and in Bursa, west of Istanbul, Anatolia said.

Universities have been bastions of the secularist elite – alongside the judiciary and the military – who resent the rise to power of the AKP, which has its roots in political Islam.

“This is an operation against the intellectuals of this country,” said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a parliamentary group deputy chairman of the secular CHP opposition.

Deputy Prime Minister Hayati Yazici said nobody was above the law in Turkey. “The judicial bodies are authorized to deal with those who commit crimes. Turkey is on the right track.”

Police also took in Mustafa Yurtkuran, acting chairman of the Ataturk Thought Association. The group organized mass street protests in 2007 against the AKP government’s attempt to lift a veto on the Muslim headscarf at university.

Ergenekon came to light more than a year ago when explosives were discovered in a police raid on an Istanbul house.

The military has unseated four elected governments in Turkey, either in outright coups or by strong political pressure. It has denied any links to Ergenekon.