Two Turkish MPs to be tried for mafia links

In Turkey a former Interior Minister and another centre-right member of parliament have been charged with forming a criminal gang and aiding mafia infiltration of the state.

The two men--Mehmet Agar, the ex-minister, and Sedat Bucak, a deputy from the mainly Kurdish south-east--are members of the former governing party, True Path.

Turkish prosecutors have asked for prison sentences of up to fifteen years for Mr Agar and up to twenty years for Mr Bucak, who both deny the charges.

Investigations began after a car crash sixteen months ago, when Mr Bucak was found with a former police chief and a fugitive gangster, involved in drug-smuggling, racketeering and illegal gambling.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service