Tayyip Erdogan prefers ex-army chief trial without arrest

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said it is his and ruling party’s preference to see trial of Turkey’s ex-army chief Gen. Ilker Basbug as part of the anti-government Internet campaign probe without arrest.

Basbug testified last Thursday as a suspect in an investigation into an alleged Internet campaign to discredit Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

The prosecutors referred him to a court after questioning him for more than seven hours and he was arrested early on Friday.

Retired Gen. Basbug, who retired in 2010, is the highest-ranking officer to be caught up in a widening probe into the Ergenekon network, an ultra-nationalist group accused by prosecutors of conspiring to topple the government. Basbug is facing charges of “gang leadership” and seeking to unseat the government by force.

Erdogan was speaking in a joint news conference with his Norwegian counterpart on Monday and said it is not appropriate for him to say something regarding an ongoing investigation, implying that his remarks could mean an intervention into the judicial proceeding.

Erdogan said he worked with Basbug for two years and that it is his and the ruling party’s preference to see his trial without arrest.

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