ISTANBUL
Seventeen Turkish soldiers are to face trial on charges of attempting to disrupt the Turkish government.
The 17 were ordered to be held in custody by an Istanbul court on Friday pending trial on charges of "being a member of a terrorist organization" and "attempting to overthrow the Turkish government or preventing it from doing its duties".
They also face charges including wiretapping, espionage, violation of privacy, storing personal data in violation of the law and forgery of official documents.
The men were arrested on Sunday as part of an ongoing “parallel state” investigation into the conduct of another probe into the so-called “Selam-Tevhid” organization.
Prosecutors maintain that an investigation into "Selam-Tevhid" was used by members of the “parallel state” - what the Turkish government claims is an organization of Turkish bureaucrats and senior officials embedded in the country's institutions who are allegedly trying to undermine it - as a pretext for wiretapping senior government figures.
Dozens detained
The prime minister, National Intelligence Organization (MIT) chief, cabinet ministers and journalists are alleged to have been targeted by serving state officials under the operation.
Seventeen other suspects from the Turkish military who were arrested on Sunday were ordered to be released, with 10 of them being kept under "judicial control", obliging them to attend a police station once a month and barring them from leaving the country.
In an operation against "Selam-Tevhid" launched in late July, 2014, by Turkey’s Terrorism and Organized Crime Bureau, 11 police officers, including Istanbul’s Anti-Terror Division Director, Yurt Atayun, were detained and placed under arrest.
The prosecution extended its operation in February 2015 and ordered the detention of 29 police officers, 17 of who were found guilty of forming, managing or joining a terrorist organization, political or military espionages and attempting to overthrow the government or prevent it from doing its duties.
A total of 28 people have been arrested to date as part of the "parallel state" probe.
The ongoing operation against the “parallel state” has resulted in the detention of dozens of police officers and the reassignment of hundreds of other officers across Turkey.
