General Ilker Basbug most senior officer to face trial in series of investigations into alleged anti-government plots

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

A former military chief has been detained and accused of leading a terror organisation and conspiring to bring down the Turkish government, his lawyer has said.

General Ilker Basbug will be the most senior officer to face trial in a series of investigations into alleged anti-government plots.

He was arrested and put in prison near Istanbul on Thursday night after seven hours of questioning by prosecutors investigating allegations that the military funded dozens of websites aimed at discrediting the Islamic-rooted government of the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in 2009.

Some suspects who have already been charged, including senior generals and admirals, have said they acted in a chain of command.

Basbug, who retired in August 2010, led the military at the time.

The imprisonment of a former military chief would have been unimaginable a few years ago, but the government – which has won three successive elections – has sharply reduced the military's political clout. Military leaders have staged three coups, and forced an Islamist prime minister to quit in 1997.

Basbug's lawyer, Ilkay Sezer, said his client had denied the accusations against him during questioning. NTV television said the former general told court officials the charges were "tragi-comical".

"If I am being accused of bringing down the government with a couple of press statements and one or two internet stories, this is very bitter," the Hurriyet newspaper quoted Basbug as saying, citing court papers.

"If I had such bad intentions, as the commander of a 700,000-strong force, there would have been other ways of doing it."

Basbug told journalists before being taken to prison: "The 26th chief of military staff of the Turkish republic is being accused of forming and leading a terror organisation. I leave it up to the great Turkish people to decide."

The alleged conspiracy was reported in 2009 by a Turkish newspaper which printed a photocopy of an alleged plan to damage the reputation of the government by portraying it as corrupt.

Investigations into the reported conspiracy were inconclusive because the original document, allegedly signed by a navy colonel, could not be found. The inquiry was revived last year after an unidentified military officer allegedly sent the original document to Istanbul's chief prosecutor.

Hundreds of people – including civilians, retired generals and active duty officers – are already on trial accused of involvement in separate plots that prosecutors say were aimed at destabilising Turkey and bringing the government down. The military says 58 serving generals or admirals are in jail.

Erdogan's opponents see the trials as a government effort to intimidate them through the courts, while the long imprisonments without verdicts and alleged irregularities in the handling of evidence have cast doubts over the legal process.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the pro-secular opposition party, criticised the arrest, saying courts prosecuting the anti-government plots were "not distributing justice" but "approving decisions taken by the political authorities".

The deputy prime minister, Besir Atalay, said he could not comment on a legal process but that he hoped the trial would be fair and quick.

Last year, the country's top four military commanders, including the chief of staff who succeeded Basbug, resigned in protest at the arrests and prosecutions of military officers.