A Turkish court was set to begin hearing a case today against 86 people accused of membership in a shadowy armed group that plotted to overthrow the country's Islamist-rooted government.
They will answer about 30 separate charges ranging from membership in a terrorist organisation and instigating an armed uprising against the government to arson and illegal possession of weapons.
Among the 86 suspects ? 46 of whom are remanded in custody ? are retired army officers, leftist politicians, members of secularist associations, journalists, academics and underworld figures.
The trial, which followed an investigation into the discovery of hand grenades in Istanbul in June 2007, has fuelled tensions between supporters of the Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted government and secularists who charge that the investigation was being used to intimidate and silence opponents.
The prosecution charges that the suspects ? alleged members of the ultranationalist Ergenekon group ? instigated violence and planned assassinations to foment political turmoil in Turkey and topple the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The Turkish media has reported that the group was hoping the chaos would prompt a military coup.
The army, which carries significant political clout, has toppled four governments in as many decades and threatened Erdogan's government last year with stepping in to safeguard secularism.
Hardcore secularists, among them the army, suspect the AKP of advancing a secret plan to introduce Islamic rule in Turkey. The party denies any such agenda and says it is loyal to the separation of state and religion.
The 2,455-page indictment holds the Eregenekon group responsible for at least two violent attacks initially blamed on Islamists ? the 2006 bombing of a secularist newspaper critical of the AKP and an armed attack on a top court the same year in which a senior judge was killed.
The group is also accused of planning to assassinate several important people, among them Mr Erdogan, the former army chief Yasar Buyukanit, the 2006 Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk, and Osman Baydemir, the mayor of Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish south-east that sits at the heart of a 24-year armed Kurdish insurgency.
Some suspects are widely seen as embodiments of the "deep state" ? a term used to describe members of the security forces acting outside the law, often collaborating with organised crime, to protect what they consider Turkey's best interests.
The indictment however says that Ergenekon is not institutionally linked to the Turkish military, but has penetrated senior ranks in the army.
While the trial has been applauded by pro-government and liberal circles as an unprecedented step forward in the fight against rogue elements in the state, others, especially hardcore secularists, have sharply criticised it as the AKP's means of exacting revenge on its political opponents.
*AFP
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs: 2018 Renault Koleos
Price, base: From Dh77,900
Engine: 2.5L, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 170hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 233Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.3L / 100km
The specs: 2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy
Price, base / as tested Dh97,600
Engine 1,745cc Milwaukee-Eight v-twin engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 78hp @ 5,250rpm
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Fuel economy, combined 5.0L / 100km (estimate)
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The biog
Hometown: Birchgrove, Sydney Australia
Age: 59
Favourite TV series: Outlander Netflix series
Favourite place in the UAE: Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque / desert / Louvre Abu Dhabi
Favourite book: Father of our Nation: Collected Quotes of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Thing you will miss most about the UAE: My friends and family, Formula 1, having Friday's off, desert adventures, and Arabic culture and people
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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