US embassy in Turkey denies involvement in coup probe

The spokesperson described the allegation as "ridiculous" in a written statement on Monday, saying that the embassy could not comment on an ongoing case in a Turkish court.

A national newspaper in Turkey has said part of an indictment in the Ergenekon probe alleged a car registered on the US Consulate in Istanbul had entered a military zone to take photographs in Poyrazkoy district, the scene of an excavation which unearthed weapons and explosives last April.

The spokesperson said they had no record of a Consulate vehicle being present at the site on April 7, 2009.

Ergenekon was revealed after police seized 27 grenades, TNT explosives and fuses in a shanty house in Istanbul on June 12, 2007 and Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into weapons.

Police waged operations in several provinces and detained a number of people, including retired senior army officers as well as officers on active duty, journalists and businessmen for their alleged involvement in the network which is suspected of conspiring to overthrow the government in Turkey by increasing instability in the country through political assassinations and forcing the military to stage a coup.

/World Bulletin/