The sweep that targeted the Ergenekon network spanned eight provinces and included the detention of at least one active duty military officer and one retired officer, Turkish news media reported. The detentions came a month after 50 senior retired and active military officers were detained on suspicion of participating in a 2003 coup plot.
What precisely Ergenekon is — or whether it even exists — is hard to pin down. Some say that indictments issued so far reveal an intricately organized gang that has sought to oust the Islamist-rooted government that came to power in 2002. Others say stories of plots are being fabricated to weaken Turkey’s powerful military, which since the founding of the republic has sought to preserve the country’s secular status quo.
More than 200 people have been arrested in connection with Ergenekon, prompting the European Union to warn Turkey last month “not to allow legal proceedings to be used as a pretext to exert undue pressure on critical journalists, academics or opposition politicians.”
– Janine Zacharia
GAZA STRIP
Rocket attack kills Thai worker in Israel
Palestinian militants launched the first deadly rocket attack on Israel in more than a year on Thursday, killing a Thai worker in a strike that challenged the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers and prompted Israel to threaten a powerful response.
A previously unknown group, Ansar al-Sunna, asserted responsibility for the strike, the first from the Gaza Strip to kill anyone in Israel since the brief war between Israel and Hamas that ended in January 2009.
“This is a crossing of the red line, which Israel cannot accept. The Israeli response will be appropriate. It will be strong,” Deputy Premier Silvan Shalom said.
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Tags: active military officers, Deputy Premier Silvan, duty military officer, Gaza Strip