Turkey’s ex-army chief says terrorism charges “comedy”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey's former armed forces chief Gen. İlker Başbuğ said on Tuesday, March 27 he would not defend himself against terrorism charges, describing the allegations against him as a "comedy" and calling for his trial to be heard by the supreme court, Today’s Zaman reported.

Başbuğ, accused of involvement in a plot to overthrow the government, told the court he had no respect for the indictment, saying the allegations were against the Turkish armed forces and were a serious insult to the state.

His trial concerns an alleged Internet campaign to discredit Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

Başbuğ is accused of being a leader of a shadowy network dubbed Ergenekon, behind a string of alleged plots against the government of Erdoğan. Ergenekon is accused of planning campaigns of disinformation, bombings and assassinations to stir panic and precipitate an army coup.

Comments by Başbuğ's lawyer reflected a sense among some conservatives that the case itself presented a challenge to the constitutional order. "The allegation...is not only against İlker Başbuğ, but also against the Turkish armed forces and even, in political terms, the state," lawyer İlkay Sezer said on the eve of the trial.

The military has viewed Erdoğan, a man with roots in political Islam, and his AK Party with deep suspicion since it was first elected in 2002.

The case against Başbuğ features websites allegedly set up by the military to spread "black propaganda" against the government until 2008, including one titled "Islamic fundamentalism".

Like the judiciary, the generals distrusted Erdoğan and other members of the AK Party with an Islamist past. Erdoğan denies any ambitions to forge an Islamist state and insists he is committed to a secular political system.

The military staged three coups in 1960-1980 and forced an Islamist prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan, to quit in 1997.