ANKARA, March 2 A Turkish general and a prosecutor have been charged with belonging to a network allegedly aiming to discredit the Islamist-rooted government and prompt a military coup, media reports said on Tuesday.

The case in the eastern city of Erzincan is one of the most controversial to emerge so far from a long-running probe into the so-called Ergenekon secularist network, which has come under fire for seeking to silence government opponents.

The suspects were charged after a dramatic series of events since last year that saw rival prosecutors clash, and police and secret agents pull guns on each other.

In a separate probe last week, 35 serving and retired soldiers were detained in Istanbul over a purpoted 2003 plan to overthrow the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has strong Islamist roots.

The Erzincan indictment singles out Saldiray Berk, a four star general and commander of the Third Army, as the head of a local group linked to Ergenekon. It lists the city's chief prosecutor Ilhan Cihaner as one of his key collaborators.

The suspects are accused of belonging to a “terrorist organisation” and risk up to 15 years in jail, the Milliyet newspaper said.

Eight other soldiers and three members of Turkey's intelligence agency are among other suspects to stand trial, according to Anatolia news agency.

The prosecution argues the suspects attempted to activate a plan to discredit the powerful brotherhood of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, which is close to the AKP, the agency said.

They allegedly plotted to plant drugs, weapons and illicit documents in student houses run by the Gulen community and seize them in raids in a bid to have the brotherhood was listed as a “terrorist” group.

The move was envisaged under an alleged plan drawn up by a colonel in Ankara, which the army said Monday may be genuine.

A secret prosecution witness claimed Berk also chaired a meeting in Erzincan, at which senior officers considered an outright coup against the AKP if opinion polls show the party as front-runner for elections in 2011, the Vatan newspaper said.

The general has refused to testify in the investigation.

Following Cihaner's arrest last month, the Higher Board of Judges and Prosecutors removed four prosecutors from the probe on grounds the decision was unlawful, sparking a row with the government.

In December, the three intelligence officers arrested in the probe told an opposition lawmaker who visited them in jail that they had come to the brink of an armed confrontation with the police when their office in Erzincan was raided without a proper search warrant.

The tensions in Erzincan date back to 2007 when Cihaner launched a probe into another Islamic community suspected of running illegal religious schools.

He has said he came under AKP pressure to abandon the proceedings.

Prosecutors investigating Ergenekon say the network planned assassinations and bomb attacks as part of a broad strategy to destabilise Turkey and prompt a military takeover.

The probe, launched in 2007, was initially hailed as a success, with police digging up several weapons caches. But its credibility waned as prosecutors began targeting journalists, academics and writers known as AKP critics.

Dozens of suspects, including two retired generals accused of being the ringleaders, are already on trial as part of the probe.—AFP