ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s state-run news agency says authorities have arrested eight more retired officers over their alleged involvement in the ousting of an Islamic-led government in the late 1990s.
Anadolu Agency reports say the eight, including seven retired generals, were detained on Wednesday and late Thursday pending a trial over a military campaign that forced former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan to resign. No trial date has been set.
Anadolu said Friday that authorities were also questioning six other generals, including a former Air Force commander. They had not been arrested.
Several other officers have already been charged in Erbakan’s ouster, which has been dubbed Turkey’s “post-modern coup” because the military simply pressured the government to resign.
Turkey has curtailed the military’s powers and is making generals account for intervening in government affairs.
