More officers jailed in Turkey coup investigation

ISTANBUL - A Turkish court Thursday ruled to jail another group of army officers in an ongoing investigation into an alleged coup plot against the government.

Twenty officers - including five admirals and three generals, some of them still serving - have now been jailed as part of the inquiry into the plot, dubbed “Sledgehammer”.

The jailed officers were among a group of some 50 serving and former high-ranking military commanders who were rounded up Monday in connection with the alleged coup plan. Among those arrested were the former heads of the navy and air force.

The plan, first revealed in documents leaked to the liberal Taraf newspaper, allegedly aimed to create chaos and political turbulence in the hopes of removing the liberal Islamic government of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The plot possibly included the bombing of popular mosques and the ratcheting up of military tensions with Aegean neighbour Greece.

The Turkish military, which sees itself as the ultimate guardian of Turkey’s secular system, has denied the coup plot allegations and has called the arrest of the commanders a “serious situation”.