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Chaos mars trial of 86 accused in Turkey coup plot
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-21 10:37 ISTANBUL -- Pandemonium marred the trial Monday of 86 people accused of conspiring to overthrow Turkey's Islamic-oriented government when defendants and lawyers piled into an overcrowded courtroom and complained they couldn't hear.
A panel of judges adjourned proceedings and resumed with only the 46 jailed suspects and their lawyers present on the opening day. The other 40 suspects in the case are free pending trial. All the defendants are charged with seeking to destabilize Turkey with attacks ahead of a planned coup in 2009. The case has raised concerns about political instability in Turkey, a country that has endured the ouster of four governments by the military since 1960. But the investigation so far has not uncovered alleged involvement by active-duty military officers or other state officials, despite what many Turks believe is a long history of crime by elements of the Turkish state. A new hearing was set for Thursday so the court can consider a demand by defendants that the judges be replaced because of alleged bias, Anatolia news agency reported. Those on trial include a retired general, the leader of a small leftist and nationalist party, a newspaper editor, a best-selling author and a former university dean. They are accused of being part of a nationalist network called Ergenekon, which takes its name from a legendary valley in Central Asia believed to be the ancestral homeland of Turks, and of plotting an armed uprising. The trial amounts to an exploration of the key division in Turkey between a growing Islamic class with political and economic clout and a backlash from secular foes, some of whom have purportedly turned to violence. The conflict eased in July when the Constitutional Court ruled against the closure of the ruling Justice and Development Party on the grounds that it was steering the country toward Islamic rule, but imposed a fine as a warning. The coup plot trial revisits the battle over Turkey's political and social future, with government opponents saying the case is an attempt to cow them with the courts. The government, meanwhile, says it is an opportunity to expose the influence of the "deep state," a shadowy network of alleged extremists with links to state institutions, including the military. The trial is being held at a prison complex in Istanbul's Silivri district on the coast of the Sea of Marmara. The courtroom can accommodate about 280 people, but an accreditation system appeared to have failed and almost double that number tried to enter Monday. "The trial is being held in a courtroom too small and inappropriate for a fair trial," opposition lawmaker Sahin Mengu said outside the court. "This is the Turkish republic's shame." |
