Ex-head of Turkey's armed forces quizzed over coup conspiracy

The former head of Turkey's armed forces has been arrested and held in an Istanbul jail on charges of conspiring to bring down the government.

General Ilker Basbug, who retired in 2010, was accused of being part of an extremist nationalist group known as the Ergenekon network that allegedly tried to overthrow Prime Minister Recep Erdogan's administration.

The Turkish military, the second largest in Nato, has long seen itself as the protector of the country's secular constitution and there has been a history of tension between Mr Erdogan's Islamist government and military leaders.

The military staged three coups between 1960 and 1980 and pressured another government from power in 1997. The investigation into the Ergenekon network, alleged to be an alliance of military and secularist groups, has already resulted in some 400 suspects being put on trial.

General Basbug, however, is by far the most senior to be detained by the authorities. He was taken to Istanbul's Silivri prison early this morning where he was questioned for several hours.

The allegations against him focus on claims that the military funded dozens of websites aimed at discrediting Mr Erdogan's government in 2009.

The former military head denies the allegations. "If I am being accused of bringing down the government with a couple of press statements and one or two internet stories, this is very bitter," he told Turkish media. "If I had such bad intentions, as the commander of a 700,000-strong force, there would have been other ways of doing it." At a closed session at Istanbul's main courthouse, prosecutors asked for him to remain in custody on charges of "gang leadership" and seeking to overthrow the government.

Critics of the government have accused the inquiry into the Ergenekon network, which begun five years ago, of being used as a means to attack opponents of Mr Erdogan's ruling AK party, which has its roots in a previously banned Islamic party that swept to power in 2002.

General Basbug, who was chief of the general staff from 2008 to 2010, had previously warned that reports of military plots against the government were part of a smear campaign to divide the armed forces and pledged he would never tolerate coup activities.

The arrest of such a senior figure in the military would have been unthinkable a few years ago, however, and is the latest indicator of its declining influence on the Turkish state.