Turkey indicts alleged plotters

A Turkish court has indicted 196 people over an alleged plot to topple the current Islamic-rooted government. Retired military commanders were among those indicted on Monday in the alleged conspiracy dubbed "Sledgehammer," the state-run Anatolian and other news agencies said.

According to the indictment, the plan was drawn up at the Istanbul base of the First Army shortly after the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK) came to power in November 2002.

The plot was to involve bombing historic mosques and provoking Greece into shooting down a Turkish war plane to create a war-like situation and destabilise the AK party, the media reports said.

Among those accused are Cetin Dogan, the former head of Turkey's First Army, and Ibrahim Firtina, a retired air force commander, both of whom were first arrested early this year.