ANKARA (AFP) - Turkeys government has suspended two generals and an admiral charged over an alleged coup plot, the military said Thursday, in what appeared to be a rekindled clash between army and government. The three men, suspended from office Monday, have asked a military court to overturn the decision, the army said in a statement on its website. The statement detailed the stages in the confrontation, which stemmed from a row in August on whether officers indicted over the alleged 2003 plan to oust the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) should be denied promotion before the charges against them had been proven. The interior and defence ministers suspended the three men after the governments refusal to approve their promotion was twice overturned by military courts, it said. Newspapers said it was the first time the government had suspended serving officers. The legal battle underscores lingering tensions between government and army which simmered earlier this year when 196 acting and retired officers, among them senior figures, were charged over the purported coup plot. The plan was allegedly drawn up shortly after the AKP, the moderate offshoot of a banned movement, came to power in November 2002 amid fears it would undermine Turkeys secular system. The first hearing in the case is scheduled for December 16. The alleged mastermind of the plan has denied the charges, claiming that papers from a contingency plan based on a scenario of domestic unrest had been doctored to look like a coup plot. The AKP denies the accusations, lauding the probe as a step towards improved democracy in a country where the once-omnipotent army has unseated four governments since 1960. Prosecutors argue the defendants planned to pave the way for a military takeover by plunging the country into chaos and unrest. The plan codenamed Operation Sledgehammer allegedly called for the bombing of Istanbul mosques and provoking tensions with Greece to shape public opinion towards believing in the necessity of a coup. The probe, launched in February, came atop controversial charges against dozens of other soldiers and civilians since 2007 over a series of purported plots to destabilise and topple the AKP. The Turkish armys political clout has notably waned in recent years under reforms sought by the European Union, which Turkey is seeking to join.