Turkey ex-army chief rejects terror charges

Turkish ex-army chief Ilker Basbug on Tuesday walked out of his terrorism trial in protest at the use of taped phone calls and denied seeking to overthrow the Islamist-rooted government. Basbug stormed out of the Silivri court after a personal phone conversation between two suspects was played and said the court did not have the jurisdiction to try him, Anatolia news agency reported. He said the court lacked "dignity," and denied any links to the suspects. He returned to the hearing after it was adjourned for an hour following his departure on the second day of his trial. "I am astounded at being accused of leading a terrorist organisation," the retired general earlier told the court outside Istanbul. "This accusation is not directed against me but against the armed forces," he added. Basbug said he would not present a defence or answer any questions. "To try and accuse a head of the armed forces of crimes of this nature is the result of a comedy of incompetence," the 68-year-old career soldier said in his first statement to the court. "The charge sheet has no credibility from my point of view." He went on trial Monday on charges of leading a terrorist group accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP). Basbug, who was chief of staff from 2008 to 2010, has been in custody since January and risks life in prison if convicted in a case that has inflamed tensions between the government and the powerful military. "On my life I have never tolerated illegality. My loyalty to democracy is known," Basbug told the court. "Those who accuse me, do they know that I ordered without hesitation an investigation if I noticed any offence" against the government, he said of his tenure as army chief. He also contested the allegation of running a "terrorist organisation," saying he had fought "relentlessly" against the Kurdish separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), considered a terror group by Turkey and much of the international community. The military, which considers itself the guardian of secularism in modern Turkey and is the second-largest force in NATO after the United States, has carried out three coups -- in 1960, 1971 and 1980. It also forced the removal of a coalition government led by an Islamist prime minister in 1997 and tensions have been building for years between the army and the Erdogan administration, in power since 2002. The army has lost power following various AKP-implemented reforms and dozens of active and retired military officers including generals, as well as academics, journalists and lawyers have been detained. Critics accuse Erdogan's government of launching the far-reaching probe as a tool to silence its opponents and impose authoritarianism, charges it denies. A statement issued by relatives of the detained officers has called for the charges to be dropped, accusing the Turkish judiciary of "falsifying evidence". The US State Department in January urged the Turkish government to ensure that the probe and any prosecutions were conducted in a "transparent manner" and in line with international standards.