In comments carried by the Anatolia news agency, Erdogan slammed the reports as "made-up" and said they were the result of conscious efforts to stir trouble.

"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 EU-oriented refoms could encourage radical Islamist 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 "propogating separatism" used to jail Kurdish rights activists.

General Ozkok is scheduled to meet leading members of the national media on Monday to explain the military's views.

The Turkish army, the self-appointed guardians of secularism, forced the ouster in 1997 of the country's first Islamist 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.

The AKP says it has dropped its past Islamist views, but it is still suspected by many of harbouring a hidden Islamist agenda.

Last month, the army's top brass warned the AKP government to respect the mainly-Muslim nation's strict secular system over moves it perceived to be against the strict separation of church and state.

The warning came after the generals and the secular establishment boycotted an official reception in parliament amid a spat ovet the wearing of the Islamic-style headscarf, which is banned public offices and universities where it is viewed as a declaration of support for political Islam.

The AKP has also been accused of appointing pro-Islamist cronies to government offices, and for asking Turkish embassies to support Milli Gorus, an expatriate Islamist group long suspected of promoting extremism.

WAR.WIRE