More Turkish generals detained over 1997 coup

The former commander of Turkey's land forces has been jailed pending trial in a widening investigation of the toppling of Turkey's first Islamist-led government in 1997, state media said on Thursday.

General Erdal Ceylanoglu, who is believed to have ordered tanks onto the streets outside the capital ahead of the military intervention 16 years ago, joined dozens already remanded in custody ahead of the court case.

The inquiry into the ousting of former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan is part of a wider extensive judicial investigation into the once-supreme Turkish military, whose power has been sharply curbed over the past decade.

The two generals were taken to a maximum security prison in Sincan, a town outside Ankara where Ceylanoglu is charged with commanding tanks onto the streets during the upheaval in 1997.

While Erdogan has promoted the trials as part of the process of ending the generals' political power, he has more recently called for the investigations to be wrapped up more quickly and has hit out at the lengthy pre-trial detentions of hundreds of officers on conspiracy charges.

More than 300 military officers were sentenced to jail in September for plotting to overthrow Erdogan in 2003. Nearly 300 other people - including politicians, academics, journalists and retired army officers - are on trial on charges of orchestrating political violence.