TURKISH EX-GENERAL QUESTIONED IN ANTI-GOVERNMENT CASE (Press TV)

Natalie Carney, Press TV, Istanbul  

General Ilker Basbug arrived to a large crowd, but was quickly whisked into the courthouse by police and security staff.

While hundreds of Turkish journalists, lawyers and academics await trial for their alleged connections to the Ergenekon network, this is the first time such a high-ranking military officer is being questioned as part of a wider investigation into the banned group.

However, Ibrahim Pazan, who spent 20 years in the Turkish Armed Forces thinks if General Basbug was involved in the anti-government campaign, he was doing it for the betterment of Turkey.

Tensions between Turkey's secularist military and the ruling AK Party have been building for years. The Ergenekon case is seen as just part of the power struggle between the two sides.

The 42 anti-government websites the Turkish Armed Forces are being questioned about have since been blocked, their contents removed or made un-readable.

The government is leaving the matter to the courts.

The questioning of Turkey's former chief of army staff shows just how wide investigations into the actions of the Ergenekon network are getting.

As well as how deep into Turkey's most established and influential institutions the network might have penetrated.

Earlier this week, an indictment against former Justice Minister Seyfi Oktay was accepted, which could link the Ergenekon group to the judiciary. And last week, the court case against Oda TV began, an online Turkish news portal, accused of promoting the cause of the banned group.

Yet Ibrahim Pazan believes Ergenekon's days are numbered.

Some members of Turkish society have voiced concern that the Turkish government is using the investigations into the Ergenekon network, which began 5 years ago, to expand arrests.

Others insist the threats are real. About one-tenth of the army's generals are in custody over alleged plots that would spread political chaos and justify a military takeover.

If prosecutors find General Basbug is linked to the websites, he is likely to then be questioned by judges.

Fri Jan 6, 2012 7:2PM GMT

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