Turkey 'Coup Potter' Held in Bulgaria

A Turkish man convicted in absentia of plotting to overthrow the government at a high-profile trial earlier this month was arrested after escaping into Bulgaria, officials said Wednesday.

Levent Temiz, 38, was detained near the southeastern border town of Malko Tarnovo on August 8 after entering Bulgaria illegally, the interior ministry's chief of staff Svetlozar Lazarov told journalists.

Lazarov declined to provide more details, but said the authorities had confirmed Temiz's identity and had launched a probe into his illegal border crossing.

Temiz was sentenced to 10 years in prison on August 5 in a trial of 275 army officers, journalists, opposition politicians and others accused of plotting a coup against the Islamic-rooted government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Temiz is a former leader of a banned Turkish ultra-nationalist youth organisation known as the Grey Wolves.

He reportedly applied for political asylum in Bulgaria but was turned down, according to Turkish and Bulgarian media.

Bulgaria and Turkey were discussing his extradition, the reports said.