The indictment of 86 people, including businessmen, journalists and retired army officers, on coup-plotting charges is clear evidence of the scale of the political crisis now gripping Turkey.

The defendants are accused of planning an ultra-nationalist insurrection against the government of the ruling Justice and Development party, the Islamic AKP. Prosecutors are preparing cases against several others, including two ex-generals arrested this month. The investigators suspect the plotters of planning violent outrages to create conditions for army intervention.