Turkey's top general arrested for government coup plot The arrest came hours after Basbug testified as a suspect at an Istanbul court on Thursday as part of a probe into an alleged Internet campaign to discredit the government. Among the allegations is an attempt by a group of army officers to establish websites to disseminate anti-government propoganda in order to destabilise the country. Turkey's military, which considers itself as the guardian of secularism, has carried out three coups - in 1960, 1971 and 1980. This latest move appears to be a fresh warning to the military whose political influence has decreased. Basbug was later sent to a prison at Istanbul's Silivri prison where other suspects of alleged Ergenekon network are jailed. The former general was taken from an Istanbul courthouse in the early hours of Friday for a health check before being transported in a police convoy to Silivri prison, some 80 km (50 miles) west of the city, where hundreds of defendants in the Ergenekon case are being tried in a specially-built courtroom. The decision to send Gen Basbug to jail came hours after prominent Turkish journalists on trial over alleged ties to the ultra-nationalist Ergenekon network said the charges against them were "a massacre of justice." Ergenekon is accused by prosecutors of being behind multiple conspiracies against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party government, and several hundred suspects, including retired senior military officers, academics, lawyers and journalists, have been detained in cases related to the network. Investigations into Ergenekon have spiralled since they first opened in 2007, and critics accuse Erdogan's government of scaremongering to silence opponents. The government denies any such motives. Gen Basbug, facing charges of "gang leadership" and seeking to unseat the government by force, told the court after seven hours of questioning by prosecutors that he rejected the charges and described them as "tragicomic," broadcaster NTV reported. To hear such an allegation hurts my pride as a general who has done his duty to the country and state with honour. Accusing a chief of general staff of forming a terrorist group is the biggest punishment I could be given," he said. Gen Basbug's lawyer said he would challenge the decision to jail him pending trial, state-run Anatolian news agency reported. The fact that prosecutors are now touching senior generals is a turning point in the democratisation process of Turkey. Many were sceptical that prosecutors would go this far," said military affairs analyst Lale Kemal.