Turkey's former army chief, retired general Ilker Basbug, arrested and detained over an alleged bid to topple the Islamist-rooted government, is no hardliner, say analysts.

But some observers believe his determination to defend the armed forces from accusations that they are at the heart of a plot to overthrow the Islamist-rooted government has led him to take unreasonable stances.

"He's no hawk," said Sinan Ulgen, head of the Istanbul's Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies.

Academic Ahmet Insel, who has written two books on Turkey's military, agrees. But what has pushed Basbug to take more extreme positions has been the government's drive against what it sees as a military-led conspiracy against it, said Insel.

As early as 2007, he was speaking out in defence of the first officers to be implicated in the alleged plot.

But Basbug has sometimes been wrongfooted in his determination to defend the military, said Insel.

When police found an arms cache buried outside Istanbul, Basbug denied the weapons belonged to the Turkish army, referring to more than 20 light anti-tank weapons found among the haul as "pipes".

He was similarly dismissive of a document advanced as evidence of the army conspiracy against the government, describing it as just "a piece of paper".

The accusations against the army were part of a "growing and organised" smear campaign, he insisted.

But that went down badly, said Insel. "He gave the impression of someone ready to say anything to defend the army."

On Friday, the 68-year-old retired general was arrested over an alleged bid to topple the government, the most senior officer to be rounded up as part of a massive investigation into the so-called Ergenekon network.

Accused of having set up and led a terrorist group to carry out the plot, he was locked up in Istanbul's Silivri prison together with dozens of other senior officers already detained.

Prosecutors say he and his fellow officers planned to set up websites to put out anti-government propaganda to destabilise the country, a charge he has already denied.

Talk of military conspiracies is not easily dismissed in Turkey. The army has carried out three full-blown coups -- in 1960, 1971 and 1980.

But critics of Erdogan's government have accused if of launching its probes against alleged army-inspired conspiracies to crack down on its opponents: the army sees itself as the guardian of modern Turkey's secular values.

The power struggle has taken its toll on the military, as wave after wave of arrests, court rulings and constitutional revisions have eaten away at their influence.

Basbug's sympathies do tend towards the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said Insel, even if he has not made a public show of support.

The CHP was set up by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey and the embodiment of the secular values the army defends.

But on other questions, said Sinan Ulgen, the general chose to take a very moderate line.

"He has made very constructive comments on the Kurdish question," he said.

Basbug made it clear that there can be no purely military solution to the long-running conflict with fighters from the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Ulgen pointed out.

His time at the head of the armed forces between 2008 and 2010 coincided with a perceived cooling of the conflict.

This was when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) tried to woo the country's substantial Kurdish minority, who account for up to 15 million of Turkey's 73 million population.

The conflict only flared up again after Basbug stepped down from the top job in 2010.

Ahmet Insel does not put Basbug among the hardline generals who in 1997 helped bring down the government of the Islamist Necmettin Erbakan.

"He is a general who tries to keep the Turkish army in the barracks," he said.

Erbakan was at the time the political mentor of current prime minister Erdogan before he broke away to form the more moderate AKP.

Basbug, who is married and has two children, started his military career in 1963.

He was head of the army before taking overall command of the military, force of whose 515,000 troops is second only to the United States in the NATO alliance.

Turkey ex-army chief arrested for alleged bid to topple govt
Istanbul (AFP) Jan 7, 2012 - Turkey's former army chief Ilker Basbug was arrested Friday for an alleged bid to topple the Islamist-rooted government in the latest confrontation likely to inflame tensions with the powerful military.

"The 26th chief of staff of the Turkish republic has unfortunately been placed in preventive detention for setting up and leading a terrorist group and of attempting to overthrow the government," Ilkay Sezer, a lawyer for Basbug, was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.

He is the first such high-ranking military commander to be held as a suspect since another former chief of staff in the 1960s, according to the Turkish press.

However, dozens of active and retired military officers, academics, journalists and lawyers have been detained in recent years in probes into alleged plots against the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The United States swiftly urged Turkey to ensure Basbug is treated fairly following his arrest.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington was monitoring developments in what she called a "high-profile case" that is part of a wider probe into the so-called Ergenekon network.

"We have urged the Turkish government to ensure that the investigations, any prosecutions in... these cases proceed in a transparent manner, that all the defendants be assured due process in accordance with international standards," she said.

Basbug, who retired in 2010, is the most senior officer to be implicated in a massive investigation into the so-called Ergenekon network, accused of plotting to topple Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

His arrest came hours after he testified as a suspect at an Istanbul court on Thursday as part of a probe into an alleged Internet campaign to discredit the government.

"The commander of such an army facing charges of forming and leading an armed organisation is really tragicomic," the 68-year-old general told prosecutors, Anatolia reported.

"I always followed the law and the constitution throughout my tenure."

Tensions between Turkey's fiercely secularist military and Erdogan's government have been building for years, and now about one tenth of the army's generals are in custody over the alleged coup plots.

Basbug, who served as army chief from 2008 to 2010, was sent to Istanbul's Silivri prison where other suspects of the alleged Ergenekon network are being detained. His lawyer said he would challenge the court's ruling.

"Nobody can be declared guilty without a court decision," said Turkish President Abdullah Gul, a close Erdogan ally whose 2007 election was met with fierce opposition from the military.

"Everybody is equal before the law."

The military, which considers itself as the guardian of secularism in modern-day Turkey and currently boasts a force of 515,000 troops, has carried out three coups -- in 1960, 1971 and 1980.

In 1997, the army also forced the removal of a coalition government led by an Islamist prime minister.

"We are witnessing history," Nihat Ali Ozcan, security analyst at the Ankara-based TEPAV think tank, told AFP. "I believe Basbug's arrest will have a catastrophic impact on the military in the medium term.

"And on the political front, it will lead to polarisation between those who defend the legal process in the name of democracy and those who consider it authoritarianism under one-party rule."

The move against Basbug appears to be a fresh warning to the army in Turkey -- the largest of the NATO member states after the United States -- whose political influence has waned since Erdogan's AKP came to power in 2002.

Critics accuse Erdogan's government of launching the Ergenekon probes as a tool to silence its opponents and impose authoritarianism, charges it denies.

But even those close to government circles have voiced doubts about the legitimacy of the investigations, especially after the arrest of two prominent investigative journalists, Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener.

Among the accusations levelled against Basbug is an alleged attempt by a group of army officers to establish websites to disseminate anti-government propoganda in order to destabilise the country.

"I reject this charge... I, as the chief of the general staff, am the commander of the Turkish armed forces which is one of the most powerful armies in the world," Basbug said in his testimony, according to Anatolia.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of Turkey's opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said the courts trying the Ergenekon suspects were not delivering justice.

"They are implementing decisions made by the political authority," he was quoted as saying by Anatolia.