The former head of Turkey's armed forces, General Ilker Basbug, should be tried in the supreme court if he is charged with plotting to overthrow the government, his lawyer told Reuters. Lawyer Ilkay Sezer said late on Saturday that Basbug had worked in tandem with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party government for seven years and he was stunned by the accusations against him.
"There has been no allegation of a crime until now, that is one and a half years following his retirement ... He says it is beyond his comprehension," Sezer told Reuters.
Sezer said any indictment should be framed by the Supreme Court of Appeals and the case heard by Turkey's top court.
Basbug, military chief of staff from 2008-2010, was sent to Silivri prison, outside Istanbul, on Friday after a court ordered he be remanded in custody while the prosecution completed its investigation and prepared formal charges.
Sezer said he was appealing against the custody order.
"He stays in a cell by himself... He has a TV, but he wanted to know what the world was saying about the issue," the general's son Murat told Hurriyet newspaper.
Together with his sister, Murat visited his father in jail on Friday, and they spoke for about half an hour. "My father, who is accused of being leader of a terrorist organisation, has fought against terrorists like a lion in the south-east between 1993 and 1995. He almost lost his life in battle," Murat said. "These allegations are absolutely disgusting."
Military chiefs were once regarded as the most powerful men in Turkey after a series of coups in the late 20th century but since coming to power in 2002 Erdogan's government has introduced reforms that reduced the influence of the generals.
Although hundreds of officers have been detained over the past year suspected of involvement in alleged plots against the government, the action against Basbug stunned many Turks.
There were small pro-military protests in the cities of Bursa, Mersin and Afyon on Saturday, involving a couple of hundred people, according to newspaper reports.
The secularist military has a history of tension with the AK due to the party's Islamist roots, although the party shuns the Islamist label and describes itself as socially conservative.