The accusations were part of a charge sheet indicting two soldiers and a Kurdish informer over the November 9 bombing of a bookstore in the town of Semdinli owned by a former Kurdish guerrilla, which claimed one life and sparked deadly Kurdish riots in the restive southeast.

The bombing raised questions of whether Turkey has succeeded in purging rogue elements from the security forces accused of summary executions, extortion, kidnappings and drug-smuggling in the southeast in the 1990s, the peak years of a separatist Kurdish rebellion there.

The European Union is closely watching the investigation as a test of the supremacy of law in Turkey, a membership candidate.

The prosecutor accused land forces commander General Yasar Buyukanit and several subordinates of setting up a criminal organization and of abuse of power, according to the newspapers Hurriyet and Sabah.

The accusations, which relate to the 1990s when Buyukanit was a regional commander in the southeast, were not detailed but appeared to imply that Buyukanit had a role in illegal groupings within the army which were also responsible for the Semdinli bombing.

The accusations were reportedly based on the testimony of a single person.

The prosecutor also argued that Buyukanit attempted to influence the justice when he said after the blast in Semdinli that he knew one of the suspects as "a good guy."

He demanded that military prosecutors launch a probe into the general.

Buyukanit said he was ready to answer the charges.

"I would be proud to be tried," he said in an interview with Hurriyet.

Newspapers quoted military sources as saying the prosecutor had abused his powers and the army might retaliate by filing a complaint against him to the justice ministry.

The reports could not be immediately confirmed. The justice ministry declined to comment, saying the matter remained confidential during investigations.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was expected to meet with chief of general staff Hilmi Ozkok later Monday.

Buyukanit is perceived as a hawk in an army which remains a powerful force in Turkish politics and sees itself as a guardian of the mainly Muslim country's strictly secular system.

The army has several times clashed with Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, a conservative movement with Islamist roots.

Some observers played down the accusations against Buyukanit, suggesting that they might be aimed at discrediting the general just months before he is expected to take over as chief of staff.

The indictment also demands life imprisonment for two non-commissioned officers and a former Kurdish rebel who was acting as an informer for the soldiers for carrying out the blast.

The Kurdish conflict has claimed 37,000 lives since the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the EU and the United States, took up arms for self-rule in the southeast in 1984.