ISTANBUL -- Turkish police on Thursday rounded up at least 20 people suspected of being part of an underground network that allegedly conspired to topple the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The sweep that targeted the Ergenekon network spanned eight provinces and included the detention of at least one active-duty military officer and one retired officer, Turkish news media reported. The detentions came a month after 50 senior retired and active military officers were detained on suspicion of participating in a 2003 coup plot.

What precisely Ergenekon is -- or whether it even exists -- is hard to pin down. Some observers say that indictments issued so far reveal an intricately organized gang that has sought to oust the Islamist-rooted government that came to power in 2002. Others say stories of plots are being fabricated to weaken Turkey's powerful military, which since the founding of the republic has sought to preserve the country's secular status quo.

More than 200 people have been arrested in connection with Ergenekon, prompting the European Union to warn Turkey last month "not to allow legal proceedings to be used as a pretext to exert undue pressure on critical journalists, academics, or opposition politicians."

By Janine Zacharia
Washington Post