ISTANBUL: Turkey's armed forces chief of staff had consultations with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan after meeting families of officers arrested hours earlier in connection with an alleged 2003 coup plot. State-run television showed defence lawyers arriving at an Istanbul court Sunday morning to challenge arrest warrants for 163 of the 196 retired and serving officers on trial over “Operation Sledgehammer” to oust Erdogan's government. Most of the defendants have been in and out of detention since the case first broke wide open a year ago. The trial, being held in the town of Silivri west of Istanbul, was adjourned on Friday until March 14 and will resume just three months before a national election that is expected to result in Erdogan's AK Party winning a third consecutive term. The case underlines simmering tension between the traditionally secular military and the AK, which critics suspect harbours Islamist leanings though it insists that its agenda is conservative and democratic rather than religious. Friction could worsen in the approach to the June election but investors are used to Turkey's turbulent politics. Markets are unlikely to take fright so long as opinion polls point to outright victory for the AK, which has won praise for turning Turkey into one of the world's fastest growing economies. Initially stunned by seeing so many officers put in custody, Turks have become less easily shocked during the course of the drawn out legal battle. Not all the defendants were in court for Friday's hearing, and some have yet to be arrested, including retired General Cetin Dogan, former commander of the prestigious First Army. Police formally arrested 133 officers in Silivri; 11 others were arrested later Saturday at Istanbul's Besiktas court. “Turkey is secular and will remain so!” chanted the wives of arrested officers in a protest that stopped traffic outside the Besiktas courthouse on Saturday evening. Otherwise, remaining defendants subject to arrest warrants were expected to give themselves up, possibly Monday. Among those already jailed were former air force commander Ozden Ornek and former naval commander Ibrahim Firtina.
