A Turkish court has released a former army chief who was jailed for plotting to overthrow the government. <br /><br />Ilker Basbug was given a life sentence in 2013.<br /><br />“The great Turkish nation soon realised that it was not possible to accuse a state chief Major General and its military structure to be at the head of a terrorist organization and that we had nothing to do with ‘putschist’ activities,” Ilker Basbug said on his release on Friday evening.<br /><br />The order to free him came after Turkey’s constitutional court ruled that Basbug’s detention for his alleged role in the “Ergenekon” conspiracy violated his rights. <br /><br />The move could set a precedent for more than 200 other defendants who’ve been jailed over the Ergenekon affair. <br /><br />It comes as Erdogan is engaged in a power struggle with some members of the judiciary who had helped him jail Basbug and other army officials.
