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ANKARA-Turkish authorities detained at least 24 ultra-nationalists, including two prominent retired generals, on Tuesday in a widening police investigation into a suspected coup plot against the government.Police swooped shortly before the Constitutional Court began hearing a legal case in which the governing AK Party is charged with trying to establish an Islamic state and could be closed, a move that might lead to an early parliamentary election.Turkish stocks fell six percent and the lira currency almost two percent on concerns of prolonged political uncertainty which political analysts say could damage Ankara's hopes of joining the European Union.Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the detentions were linked to a long-running investigation into Ergenekon, a shadowy, ultra-nationalist and hardline secularist group suspected of planning bombings and assassinations calculated to trigger an army takeover."It is not the AK Party which they cannot tolerate. What they can't tolerate is democracy, the national will, the people's feelings and thoughts," Erdogan said.State news agency Anatolian said at least 25 people, including two prominent retired generals and the Ankara head of the secularist daily Cumhuriyet, were among those detained. Media said another former general was being sought by police."These are prominent people and their common point is their loyalty to secularism. The (government) wants to turn society into an empire of fear," Mustafa Ozyurek, a senior lawmaker in the main opposition party CHP, told broadcaster NTV.Anatolian named the retired generals who were detained as Hursit Tolon and Sener Eruygur, the former head of the paramilitary gendarmerie forces and head of a powerful secularist association. Ankara Chamber of Commerce chairman Sinan Aygun was also detained.To read more go to:
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