Turkey’s Air Force Academy commander was jailed on June 3 with three other officers charged with seeking to overthrow the government in a 2003 plot in which more than 200 officers are accused. Their detention further exacerbates long-running strains between the country’s once all-powerful secularist military and a religiously conservative ruling party, which some critics accuse of having a secret Islamic agenda.
Turkey will hold a parliamentary election on June 12 that is expected to earn a clear victory and a third term in office for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party.
The number one suspect in the case is retired General Cetin Dogan, former head of the prestigious First Army, who is campaigning to win a seat in parliament. After three hours of questioning overnight, an Istanbul court ordered air force academy commander Major General Ismail Tas, two colonels and a lieutenant be sent to a military jail in the city, state-run Anatolian news agency reported.