Turkey: 6 retired generals arrested
ANKARA - The Associated Press
AA Photo
Turkey's police have detained six retired generals, including the country's former chiefs of air force and land forces, over their alleged role in the 1990s ousting of an Islamist prime minister.Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency says a court has charged the six today over their role in forcing the resignation in 1997 of former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan.
Dozens of active duty and retired officers, including several other generals, have already been charged and jailed in the probe.
The 1997 military memorandum refers to the decisions issued by Turkish military leaders at an MGK meeting on Feb. 28, 1997, which initiated the Feb. 28 process that precipitated the resignation of former Prime Minister Erbakan of the Welfare Party and the end of his coalition government. Because the Erbakan government was forced out without the dissolution of Parliament or suspension of the Constitution, the event has been labeled a “postmodern coup” by members of the military who were involved in the process.
