ANKARA
Former Turkish Chief of General Staff retired General Ismail Hakki Karadayi was released by an Ankara court on duty in the "post-modern coup" probe.
Earlier in the day, Karadayi was interrogated by the chief prosecutor in the Turkish capital of Ankara and was sent to a court on duty for arrest under the ongoing probe into "the post-modern coup of the February 28 process."
Karadayi's testimony had lasted around 4.5 hours on Thursday.
The "post-modern coup of the February 28 process" is a popular reference to the military intervention that forced late Necmettin Erbakan to resign as PM after serving only a year in office.
The intervention took its name from the February 28, 1997 meeting of the National Security Council (MGK), Turkey's top national security body comprised of government officials and top force commanders, which reportedly told the government "not to stray from the path of democracy and official secularism" and forced Erbakan to approve and implement a package of measures in a crackdown on his own popular support base.
In his remarks to an investigation panel with the Turkish parliament last June, Karadayi has rejected that the February 28 meeting of the MGK was a military coup, denying any involvement or knowledge in the months-long controversial campaign that led to resignation of Erbakan in June 1997.
Ismail Hakki Karadayi was released with the condition of judicial control after he was questioned by a judge on duty for two hours on Thursday.
