http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Turkey/10333233.html
Retired senior generals go on trial in Turkey
Bloomberg
Published: July 20, 2009, 21:25
Ankara: Two of Turkey's most senior retired generals went on trial on
Monday in a case that may determine whether Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
succeeds in reining in the political power of his country's military.
Sener Eruygur and Hursit Tolon, along with 54 other suspects including
journalists, academics and business leaders, are accused of belonging to a
group prosecutors say tried to undermine Erdogan by destabilising the country
with armed attacks.
Tolon appeared at the court in Silivri, outside Istanbul, while Eruygur
didn't attend, the official Anatolia News Agency reported.
The hearing is a sign that Erdogan is gaining the upper hand in a
six-year power struggle with an army suspicious of his Islamist background.
It may strengthen the prime minister's push to get Turkey into the
European Union, which requires civilian control over the military.
"Turkey is coming to a historic crossroads and there's a determination to
confront the army," said Akin Birdal, an opposition lawmaker and human-rights
activist who was jailed by the military when it seized power in a 1980 coup.
"Other Nato countries cleaned up their security forces after the Cold
War, and Turkey needs to follow this through."
Turkey, the first Islamic country President Barack Obama visited, is
Nato's only Muslim member and a contributor to the alliance's force in
Afghanistan battling the Taliban.
The trial is a turnaround from two years ago, when the army initially
blocked Erdogan's presidential nominee, Abdullah Gul, 58, roiling markets.
It also comes two weeks after Gul approved legislation allowing civil
courts to try active military officers.
While that law may not affect the case against Ergenekon, the group at
the centre of the trial, it could mean more civil scrutiny of the military in
the future.
Birdal, of the Democratic Society Party, was one of the first people to
make use of the new law. He filed charges on July 14 against Cevik Bir, a
former deputy chief of general staff, accusing him of inciting nationalist
gunmen who shot and severely injured Birdal in his office at the rights
association in 1998. Bir hasn't yet responded to the charges
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