Turkey detains 20 people in coup plot case

Turkish police on Thursday detained around 20 people in connection to an alleged plot to topple the government, and the detainees included retired and active military officers, state media said.

The operation was part of an investigation into the "Ergenekon" network, an alleged right-wing militant group that prosecutors say had planned to overthrow Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party government, broadcaster NTV said.

State-run news agency Anatolian said the detentions took place in eight cities and that the operation was still going on.

There was no immediate word on their identities or ranks.

The plot is one of several alleged conspiracies that have strained ties between the secularist military and the ruling AK Party, unsettling investors in the European Union-candidate.

News of the detentions did not have an immediate impact on Turkish assets, which were trading weaker on Thursday after a newspaper column said a new court bid to ban the AK Party may be launched as soon as Friday.

More than 200 people, including retired generals, lawyers and journalists, have been arrested in connection to Ergenekon.

Dozens of officers, including retired and serving generals, have been charged in recent weeks in a country that has hitherto regarded its military as virtually untouchable. They have been linked to alleged plots to overthrow Erdogan's government.

Critics accuse the AK Party government of using the investigations to hound secularist opponents.

The army -- self-appointed guardian of Turkey's secular order -- has ousted four governments since 1960 but its powers have been eroded in recent years by democratic reforms designed to boost the government's bid for EU membership.

The other main pillar of the secularist establishment, the judiciary, is also at odds with the AK Party government, which is suspected by its opponents of harboring an Islamic agenda.

Erdogan's party narrowly survived a bid in the Constitutional Court to ban it in 2008 and wants to push through judicial reforms to make it harder to ban political parties.

Such plans have caused speculation for weeks the secularists would hit back by launching a court case to close the party.