Turkish police arrest 14 officers on coup suspicion

Erdogan, currently on an official visit to Spain, said that a "process of arrests" had begun but declined to give more details, saying the case was "in the hands of the judge now.", dpa reported.

The arrests, which included former air force chief Ibrahim Firtina and Ozden Ornek, a former commander of the navy are believed to be linked to a coup plot dating back to 2003.

In January it emerged that the plan - codenamed "sledgehammer" - had been hatched at the highest levels of the military to plant bombs to destabilise the government.

Elements of the military are known to be opposed to the Erdogan's mildly Islamist AK party.

The Turkish justice system has been initiating proceedings against suspected conspirators in the military, which accuse the AK party of trying to Islamize the country, for the past two years.

Critics say that Erdogan's government is using reports of conspiracies in order to bash the opposition.

The government has also recently reduced the military power's of interference in state affairs.

Interior Minister Besir Atalay revoked the Protocol on Cooperation for Security and Public Order (EMASYA), which allowed the military to act in crisis situations without prior permission from the government, earlier this month.

The protocol was signed after the military effectively forced Islamist prime minister Necmettin Erkaban from office in June 1997.

His Welfare Party (RP) was banned and Islamists then formed the Virtue Party (FP). It was a splinter group from this party that formed Erdogan's AK Party.

/Trend News/