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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the army Friday that no one was above the law as a key suspect was charged and more soldiers were detained in a massive probe into an alleged 2003 coup plot.
"Those who make plans behind closed doors to crush the people's will must see that from now on they will face justice," Erdogan said in Ankara. "No one is above the law, no one has impunity."
The unprecedented probe has rattled Turkey, raising fears of a showdown between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) -- the offshoot of a banned Islamist movement -- and the army, the self-declared guardian of the country's secular system.
The number of suspects incarcerated so far reached 33 Friday as an Istanbul court charged an alleged leader of the plot and another retired general, remanding them in custody pending trial, Anatolia news agency said.
Prosecutors will detail the charges against Cetin Dogan, ex-commander of the Istanbul-based First Army where the coup plan was allegedly drafted, and Engin Alan, former head of the special forces, when they present their indictment.
Meanwhile another 18 soldiers were rounded up across the country in a second wave of arrests since Monday, media reports said.
They were being brought to Istanbul to answer accusations of involvement in the plot to foment unrest and justify a military takeover against the AKP.
Dismissing accusations that his government was trying to discredit the army, Erdogan hailed the probe as a sign of improving democracy in a country where the army has unseated four governments since 1960.
"What is happening today is normalisation... These are the footsteps of an advanced democracy," he said.
The Turkish army has traditionally wielded significant influence on politics, but has seen its clout wane under the AKP.
Also Friday, military prosecutors, who opened a probe into the alleged plot after it was first reported in January, said they had found no evidence so far to support the allegations.
"The military prosecution has failed to make any conclusion so far that the said plan and various action plans on which it is based are genuine," said a statement carried by Anatolia, adding that the probe was continuing.
The plan -- codenamed "Operation Sledgehammer" -- is said to have been drafted and discussed within the First Army in 2003, shortly after the AKP came to power amid fears that it would undermine the secular system.
The plot allegedly involved plans to bomb mosques and provoke tensions with Greece to force the downing of a Turkish jet, sparking political chaos and justifying a military takeover against the government.
It is unknown whether the suspects made any move to activate the plan. The Taraf newspaper, the first to report the plot, said it was discussed at a seminar, chaired by Dogan, in March 2003 and published transcripts of audio tapes that appeared to confirm that some kind of anti-government action was considered.
Denying any plot, Dogan has said the seminar involved the discussion of contingency plans in times of domestic unrest and war, claiming that documents were doctored to include plans to bomb mosques and for the downing of a Turkish jet.
Dogan was a key figure in a 1997 army campaign that forced Turkey's first Islamist prime minister and Erdogan's mentor, Necmettin Erbakan, to resign.
The three most senior figures questioned so far -- the ex-chiefs of the navy and the air force and the general staff's former number two -- were released late Thursday.
Hours earlier, Erdogan had met with army chief Ilker Basbug and President Abdullah Gul for crisis talks that ended with a pledge to resolve tensions "within the constitutional order".
The probe has alarmed AKP opponents, who charge the party is seeking to disable the army and realise its alleged Islamist ambitions under the guise of democratisation.
