A court on Friday (March 6th) ordered the arrests of Mustafa Balbay, of the leftist daily Cumhuriyet, and Neriman Aydin, a writer, for alleged links to the shadowy secularist Ergenekon group.

Balbay and Aydin underwent questioning by Thursday. Police first detained them in July 2008, but released them a few days later after interrogation.

A total of 86 suspected Ergenekon members are currently on trial for "forming or being a member of a terrorist organisation".

The Ergenekon group allegedly planned to incite chaos and disorder in order to overthrow the Justice and Development Party's government