SILIVRI, Turkey (AFP) — A Turkish court on Monday began trying 86 people accused of plotting to overthrow the Islamist-rooted government in a chaotic hearing that saw the defendants slam the charges as politically motivated.
The trial in a prison complex in Silivri, near Istanbul, descended into disarray within minutes of opening after lawyers protested they could not work properly in the tiny courtroom packed with supporters of the accused, spectators and an army of journalists.
"I have been doing this job for 30 years and never saw such conditions," one of the lawyers said as others complained they did not have space even to use their laptop computers -- the charge sheet alone is about 2,455 pages long.
After a brief pause to decide how to proceed, the court resumed the case, but said it would first hear the testimonies of the 46 suspects remanded in custody.
The remaining suspects will give testimony in separate hearings, it said.
Once the hearing got underway, the defence lawyers made several demands concerning procedure, among them the removal of one of the judges on grounds of impartiality and the total dismissal of the court.
"This trial is not a legal trial, it is a political trial led for the alliance between (Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip) Erdogan and (US President) George W. Bush," attorney Nevzat Erdemir told the court.
Kemal Kerincsiz, a nationalist lawyer who is one of the defendants, charged that the trial was launched "against patriots" by those "who want to install a moderate Islamist regime and a federation in Turkey."
The court adjourned the hearing until Thursday to evaluate the defence demands.
The case against the so-called Ergenekon group has deepened the rift between supporters of Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) and hardline secularists, who see the case as a government-backed campaign to bully opponents.
About 30 separate charges range from membership in a terrorist group and instigating an armed uprising against the government to arson and illegal possession of weapons.
The defendants include retired army officers, leftist politicians, journalists, members of secularist associations, academics and underworld figures.
They were charged as part of a probe into the discovery of hand grenades in Istanbul in June 2007, which is still continuing, with more suspects -- some of them in jail -- awaiting charges.
The prosecution argues the suspects instigated violence and planned assassinations to foment political turmoil in the country and topple the AKP.
The group allegedly hoped the chaos would prompt a military coup.
Turkey's staunchly secularist army has ousted four governments in as many decades and threatened Erdogan's government last year with stepping in to safeguard secularism.
Hardcore secularists suspect the AKP of advancing a secret plan to introduce Islamic rule in Turkey, a charge the party vehemently denies.
The indictment holds Ergenekon responsible for at least two attacks initially blamed on Islamists -- the 2006 bombing of the Cumhuriyet daily and an armed attack on a top court the same year in which a senior judge was killed.
The group is also accused of planning to assassinate several prominent figures, among them Erdogan, former army chief Yasar Buyukanit, 2006 Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk, and senior Kurdish politician Osman Baydemir.
Some suspects are widely seen as embodiments of the "deep state" -- a term used to describe members of the security forces acting outside the law, often collaborating with organised crime, to protect what they consider Turkey's best interests.
The indictment says Ergenekon penetrated senior army ranks, without being institutionally linked to the military.
The probe has been applauded by pro-government and liberal circles as an unprecedented step forward in the fight against rogue elements in the state.
But others, especially hardcore secularists, have sharply criticised it as an AKP move of revenge against political opponents for a failed bid earlier this year to outlaw the party through the Constitutional Court.
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