The two lieutenants were taken to the İstanbul Beşiktaş Courthouse yesterday afternoon, where they were expected to be questioned by prosecutors after the necessary legal procedures were completed at the Central Command.
In July, seven naval lieutenants were arrested on charges of plotting to assassinate two admirals.
Three of them, lieutenants Sinan Efe Noyan, Faruk Akın and Alperen Erdoğan, were on active duty in the Gölcük district of northwestern Kocaeli province and were arrested on July 21 by court order after being detained. There were claims that the lieutenants were in close contact with Maj. Levent Bektaş, who was arrested in April for suspected links to a large cache of ammunition unearthed during excavations on land owned by the İstek Foundation in İstanbul’s Poyrazköy district. That discovery came as part of the investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine gang whose suspected members are currently standing trial on charges of having plotted to overthrow the government.
It was not immediately clear whether Wednesday’s brief detention is linked to the earlier lieutenant arrests. Public prosecutor Süleyman Pehlivan, who was assigned to the investigation into the July arrests, deposed the two lieutenants.