Collapse of coup trial unnerves Turks as Erdogan switches tack

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara June 25, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the jailing of army officers, academics and journalists on coup plot charges last year as a key moment in his drive to tame Turkey's army. Now as the case unravels, his camp suggests some should never have been put behind bars.

The slow collapse of the "Ergenekon" case has exposed the judiciary - central to efforts to anchor democracy in Turkey - as a system in disarray, caught in a new power struggle between Erdogan and an Islamist cleric. That raises questions for foreign investors and the EU, which Ankara seeks to join.