A Turkish court has ordered a former armed forces chief to be remanded in custody overnight pending trial over charges of bidding to overthrow the government. General Ilker Basbug is the highest ranking officer to be caught up in the so-called Ergenekon network, an ultra-nationalist group accused of conspiring against the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
State prosecutors have been investigating allegations that Turkey's military launched websites to spread propaganda against Erdogan and his governing Justice and Development Party (AKP). Basbug told the court on Thursday he rejected the allegations, according to broadcaster NTV, describing the Turkish Armed Forces as one of the most powerful in the world. "We can say it is really tragicomic to accuse somebody who commands such an army of forming and directing a terrorist group," he was quoted as saying.