A Turkish prosecutor indicted 86 people on charges of plotting to overthrow a government accused by militant secularists of leading Turkey by stealth towards Islamic rule.
Some opponents of the government, which denies any secret Islamist agenda, call the controversial coup case revenge for court moves to outlaw the ruling AK Party and ban Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul from party politics.
Chief Prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin filed the indictment on Monday at an Istanbul court after months of intense media speculation about the case that has hit financial markets.
"The indictment covers crimes such as forming an armed terror group.and attempting to overthrow the government by force," Engin told reporters at a news conference in the garden of an Istanbul court house.
In the last 50 years, military coups have unseated four elected governments in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim but officially secular country seeking to join the European Union.
The indictment targets the shadowy ultra-nationalist group, Ergenekon, which first came to light a year ago when a cache of explosives was discovered in a police raid on an Istanbul house.
The near 2,500-page indictment named 86 defendants, of which 48 are in custody. They include the head of a small nationalist party, a nationalist newspaper editor and retired army officers.
It was not clear which defendants were facing which charges.
Turkey was rocked last week when two senior retired generals, leading businessmen and journalists - all critical of the ruling party - were added to the list of those detained on suspicion of involvement in the plot. The case appears to be devloping into a power struggle between rival elites.
Those held last week have not been officially charged and an additional indictment is being prepared for them.
