FACTBOX - Tensions running high in Turkey

(Reuters) - Tensions are running high in Turkey as the ruling AK Party fights for survival in court and police detain prominent retired generals, journalists and opposition politicians as part of a long-running investigation into a suspected coup plot against the government.

Here is a summary of the key issues:

*WHY IS THE AK PARTY IN COURT?

The chief prosecutor of the Court of Appeals has charged the AK Party with anti-secular activities and trying to set up an Islamic state. The prosecutor wants the party closed down and 71 leading political figures, including Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, banned from party membership for five years.

The AK Party denies the charges and calls them politically motivated. Some 20 parties have been banned in the past few decades because of Islamist or Kurdish separatist activities.

A ruling could come as early as August.

*WHAT IS BEHIND THE COURT CASE?

The secularist establishment, including army generals and judges, have long accused the AK Party of harbouring a hidden Islamist agenda. The military considers itself the ultimate guardian of the republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

An AK Party decision to lift a ban on students wearing the Muslim headscarf at universities was the catalyst for the court case. Secularists see the scarf as a symbol of political Islam.