THE TELEGRAPH: Three retired Turkish military leaders have been accused of helping to plan the 2003 Istanbul bombing which claimed 60 lives including three Britons.
The men are alleged to have plotted with al-Qaeda to carry out the attack in the hope of destabilising the government and paving the way for a military coup.
Prosecutors suspect the former heads of the air force, navy and Turkish 1st army were linked to attacks on the British consulate, HSBC headquarters and synagogues.
Roger Short, the consul general in Istanbul, was killed in the attack on the Charles Barry-designed Italianate Palace in the heart of Istanbul in November 2003. Lisa Hallworth, from Denton, Greater Manchester, and former airline worker Nanette Elizabeth Kurma, from Drongan, Ayrshire, were also killed in the blast.
Although an al-Qaeda linked group claimed responsibility for the attack at the time, there have always been questions over its ability to source bomb making materials and evade security controls in a country with a powerful security force.
Investigators claim the bombings were part of "Operation Sledgehammer" which had been formulated by senior military figures eight months earlier to destabilise Turkey and trigger a military intervention to overthrow the government.
Prosecutors have arrested 35 ex-military figures in recent weeks on suspicion of being part of the plot which is also said to have involved plans to provoke Greece into shooting down a Turkish fighter jet. >>> Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Monday, March 01, 2010
