Army Boss Meets PM, President Amid Tension

News of the urgent meetings sparked fears of fresh political instability in the European Union candidate.

Turkey's military chief met the prime minister and the president on Thursday a day after three retired generals and nine officers were held in a widening probe into a suspected plot to topple the Islamic-rooted government.

News of the urgent meetings sparked fears of fresh political instability in the European Union candidate and helped push down the stock market, already battered by the financial crisis.

In a terse statement, the General Staff said talks between armed forces commander General Ilker Basbug, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul had centred on Wednesday's detentions, which have exacerbated tensions between the secularist establishment and the AK Party.

More than 40 people, including a state prosecutor and a former chairman of the higher education board, were detained for their suspected links to a right-wing group.

The military, which has unseated four governments in the past 50 years and views itself as the guarantor of Turkey's secular order, denies any link to the group, known as Ergenekon.

But the case, in which 86 people including retired army officers, politicians and lawyers, are on trial, has shattered taboos by opening the military to judicial investigation.

Critics of the ruling AK Party say Erdogan's government is using the case as revenge for legal moves by the secular establishment last year to outlaw the party for anti-secular activities. The AK Party, which has its roots in political Islam, denies any link.

"The Chief of General staff has presented his views on yesterday's developments to the prime minister and the president," the General Staff said without elaborating.

The prime minister's office said Basbug had requested the meeting, which lasted more than an hour at Erdogan's residence.

STABILITY

Analysts have warned the case risks raising the possibility of a reaction from the powerful armed forces.

"The risk of a reaction by the military is growing as the Ergenekon probe is turning into a test of strength between the AKP and secularist circles," Wolfango Piccoli, from Eurasia risk consultancy group, wrote in a note.

"Regardless of which camp will prevail at the end, the price could be high for Turkey's political stability."

Erdogan later met his interior and justice ministers.

Business group TUSIAD called for calm after Turkish shares fell more than 5 percent, in line with global moves but pushed down by concerns political tensions were mounting between the government and secularists. The lira also weakened.

"Cases like Ergenekon, which is followed closely by people, should be carried out in accordance with the common sense within the context of a democratic society and the rule of law," it said, urging "all political sides" to refrain from statements that would cast a shadow on the impartiality of the judiciary.

The defendants in the coup plot case, all vocal critics of the government, are accused of planning assassinations and bombings to sow chaos and force the military to step in.

Liberals initially hailed the investigation as a breakthrough in uncovering Turkey's so-called "deep state" -- hardline nationalists in the security forces and state bureaucracy that have resisted EU-inspired reforms.