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59 officers expelled in Turkey

The Supreme Military Council in Turkey says it has expelled 59 officers on disciplinary grounds.

Military sources said most of them were dismissed for alleged links with radical Islamic groups.

Hundreds of soldiers have been discharged for the same reason over the last few years.

The BBC Ankara Correspondent says the military high command sees itself as the guardian of Turkey's secular constitution, and it applies an extremely strict interpretation of what that means.

This latest round of expulsions comes as the Constitutional Court in Ankara is trying to decide whether it should ban the pro-Islamist Welfare Party, the largest group in parliament.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service