ANKARA, May 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Turkish Chief of Staff General Hilmi Ozkok strenuously denied Monday, May 26, news that the junior officers with the military were disgruntled with the policies adopted by the government of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Ozkok’s press statements came to refute Turkish media reports that the junior officers were planning a coup d’ etat on May 27.

“I do not want to hear the word ‘coup d’ etat’ ever,” angry Ozkok told reporters.

Ozkok also hit out at using ‘junior officers’ by the Turkish media, asserting that he only voiced concern over the appointment of some of whom he called ‘Islamists’ to government posts, as they were accused of being involved in ‘reactionary practices.’

"General Ozkok voiced general concerns," a senior journalist with the newspaper Milliyeta told the CNN-Turk television channel.

"He particularly made clear the unease (in the army) concerning state appointments."

Some 20 journalists from leading dailies were invited to Ozkok's press conference, which was barred to pro-Islamic and foreign correspondents, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for his part, dismissed Monday the media reports as aiming at inciting civil strife and creating seismic waves in the country.

Erdogan also dismissed as “made-up” press reports of rising tension between his Islamic-rooted government and the military over reforms to draw the country closer to the European Union.

"Those who are trying to disrupt the harmony between the army and the government are doing wrong...No one has the right to lay the ground for conflict and tension in the country," Erdogan told reporters.

The Turkish leader was referring to reports earlier in the week that army chief Hilmi Ozkok told Erdogan of the military's concern that a package of planned E.U.-oriented reforms could encourage the so-called “radical Islamic and separatist movements”.

The package, which is expected to be submitted to parliament next week, aims to allow private radio and television stations to broadcast in Kurdish, enable the country's largest minority to give its children Kurdish names, and abolish a law against "propagating separatism" used to jail Kurdish rights activists.

Likewise, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul denied Monday reports of tensions between the government and the country's powerful military.

The controversy was "not worthy of Turkey... it's most regrettable," Gul told journalists.

"It is sad that these kind of insane discussions take place in Turkey," he said.

In his remarks Monday, Gul noted newspaper reports were appearing as Turkey was more involved than ever in a rapprochement with the European Union.

The Turkish army, the self-appointed guardians of secularism, forced the ouster in 1997 of the country's first Islamic prime minister Necmettin Erbakan, and is now watching closely to see whether the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), a conservative movement with Islamist roots, deviates from secular principles.