Historic Turkish coup trial begins
Some 200 military officers to be tried for plans to blow up mosques, kill Christian and Jewish leaders
About 200 active and retired Turkish military officers, including former chiefs of the air force as well as dozens of generals and admirals, went on trial Thursday on charges of plotting to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government in 2003.
The allegations include plans to blow up at least two major mosques during Friday prayers; assassinate some Christian and Jewish leaders; and shoot down a Turkish warplane and blame it on Greece, the country's historic rival.
The trial is held at a special court house in the town of Silivri, near Istanbul, and marks the government's increasing confidence in confronting a military that once held sway over Turkish political life. All 196 suspects, who are free pending trial, face between 15 and 20 years in prison if convicted on charges of "attempting to topple the government by force," according to the indictment, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.
Prosecutors have not made public any evidence or details of the accusations, but the Taraf newspaper has published what it calls leaked copies of documents pertaining to an alleged conspiracy dubbed "Sledgehammer."
Taraf said the conspirators hoped the chaos would lead to calls for a military takeover, and planned to turn stadiums into open-air prisons capable of holding tens of thousands of detainees. The paper says it has provided the documents to prosecutors, who are using them in their case.
The military, which has overthrown three governments since 1960 and pressured an Islamic-led government to step down in 1997, has denied such a plot, saying documents used as evidence were from a military training seminar during which officers simulated a scenario of internal strife.
More than 400 people, including academics, journalists, politicians and soldiers, are already on trial on separate charges of plotting to bring down the government. That case focuses on a conspiracy by an alleged gang of extremist secular nationalists called "Ergenekon," the name of a legendary valley in Central Asia believed to be the ancestral homeland of the Turkish people.
Critics say the cases are built on flimsy evidence and illegal wiretaps, and are designed to silence Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's pro-secular opponents. The government denies the cases are politically motivated.
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