Turkey: Coup Plot Arrests Deepen Political Crisis

TURKEY: COUP PLOT ARRESTS DEEPEN POLITICAL CRISIS Sinan Ikinci World Socialist Web Site 7 July 2008 MI With the arrests of 23 people in the early morning hours of July 1 on charges of involvement in an alleged coup plot, the bitter struggle within Turkey's state apparatus has escalated sharply. The roundup unfolded as the Turkish Constitutional Court was expected to hand down a ban against the governing Islamist AKP (Justice and Development Party). Simultaneous raids were carried out in the cities of Ankara, Istanbul, Antalya, Erzurum and Trabzon in connection with the so-called "Ergenekon probe." Several pro-AKP papers have since reported that plans for an imminent military coup were found with one of those arrested, former General Sener Eruygur, who is head of the Ataturk Thought Association (ADD). According to these... [read full story]