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“From the White House to police custody”. General Saygun has made Milliyet's front page as one of 49 Turkish army top brass, including 17 retired generals, arrested on 22 February for allegedly having plotted to overthrow the country's Islamist rooted government. The arrests appear to be related to an alleged coup plot, christened “Balyoz” (Sledgehammer), which was exposed in January 2010 by Turkish daily Taraf.
Saygun joins a list of several high-ranking officers, including retired generals, who are already being tried on accusations of belonging to Ergenekon, an ultranationalist movement which allegedly plotted a military coup, foiled after being exposed by Nokta, a weekly, in 2007. Irony of fate : back in 2007, remembers the Turkish daily, Saygun accompanied prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on an official visit to Washington, DC. He is now behind bars.
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