Erdogan warns against 'witch hunt' in coup inquiry

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said an investigation into the army's 1997 overthrow of an Islamist-led government should not turn into a "witch hunt" but signalled it could widen to the business world and media, news channels said on Sunday. 

Five retired generals and dozens of officers have been arrested in the past 10 days over their alleged role in forcing the late Necmettin Erbakan, the country's first Islamist prime minister, to resign over what they perceived were violations of Turkey's secular constitution. 

"It would be wrong to turn this into a witch hunt, but justice needs to occur. It should go as far as it needs to," Erdogan told reporters, according to CNN Turk.  

"Who wasn't mixed up in this? The business world, media, civil society groups, university rectors - who did what? This matter isn't just connected to the army. This should all come to the surface," he said late on Saturday. 

Shares in Turkish Dogan Group, which owns newspapers and broadcasters, plunged 14 percent on April 12 on speculation that it could be implicated in the investigation. It issued a statement denying it is the focus of an inquiry. 

Prosecutors have charged hundreds of military officers over alleged plots against current and former governments that have Turkey, a Muslim but officially secular democracy, examining a past littered with military interventions. 

Three outright coup d'etats ousted governments in 1960, 1971 and 1980. But subtler interference was pervasive for decades as the popular military, self-appointed guardians of secularism, wielded considerable influence over elected officials. 

The newest inquiry is into events surrounding Feb. 28, 1997, the date of a National Security Council meeting at which the military leadership forced Erbakan to quit. 

The change in power occurred without generals seizing control or suspending the constitution in what was nicknamed a "post-modern coup." Erbakan's Welfare Party was later outlawed.    

Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, founded in part by members of Welfare, has sought to curb the army's political influence since it swept to power in 2002.   

Critics, including the main opposition Republican People Party, have accused Erdogan of carrying out a campaign of revenge against political opponents, which he denies.  

Ex-chief of General Staff Ilker Basbug is the highest-ranking officer to be jailed during trial on terrorism charges. He is accused of plotting against Erdogan's rule in 2003.  

Former president Kenan Evren, 94, who seized power in a 1980 coup, is not in prison during his trial, which began this month.

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