Turkey ex-ministers face charges

Former Turkish PM Mesut Yilmaz will also face trial

Turkey's parliament has voted to allow the Supreme Court to prosecute two more former ministers on corruption charges.

Zeki Cakan and Cumhur Ersumer were in charge of energy in Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's government, which left power two years ago.

Both men have denied the charges in speeches to parliament.

On Tuesday, parliament voted to put former ministers, Mesut Yilmaz and Gunes Taner, on trial over a bank privatisation scandal.

Tomorrow you may suffer the same injustice that I am suffering today Zeki Cakan

The current Turkish government has pledged to tackle corruption, and has blamed many of the country's economic problems on abuses of power by former governments.

Under Turkish law, parliament has to review allegations of wrongdoing by senior officials before sending the cases to court.

Mr Ersumer resigned in 2001 amid claims that he illegally directed government contracts worth millions of dollars to favoured companies.

Mr Cakan was his replacement at the energy ministry.

'Injustice'

In parliament, Mr Cakan told MPs: "There's not one single document against me.

"Tomorrow you may suffer the same injustice that I am suffering today."

Mr Cakan and Mr Ersumer were members of Mr Yilmaz's party.

Mr Yilmaz, who denies the accusations against him, faces charges of rigging the privatisation of Turkbank in favour of the eventual winner. He resigned as prime minister in 1998 amid corruption allegations.

Mr Yilmaz had urged parliament to vote in favour of prosecuting him, arguing that this would allow him to clear his name.

It is not yet clear when any of the trials could begin.