A symbolic photo of İstanbul Bosphorus bridge on the night of the coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
An official document obtained by a Turkish journalist who currently lives in exile has increased suspicions about the way the Turkish government presents a coup attempt in the country on July 15, 2016 and suggests that the events which unfolded on that night were known by state authorities in advance.
The failed coup claimed the lives of 249 people while a thousand others were injured. The Turkish government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan immediately put the blame on the Gülen movement for the coup attempt and launched a massive crackdown on the movement’s followers as a result of which more than 150,000 people have been removed from state jobs while 50,000 others have been jailed on terrorism charges.
The Gülen movement strongly denies any involvement in the abortive putsch.
The document was obtained by journalist Ahmet Dönmez, who used to work for the Zaman newspaper, which was closed down following the coup attempt due to its links to the Gülen movement.
Dönmez, who works as a freelance journalist abroad, posted the document on his personal website on Monday.
The document is an official paper written and signed by Ankara public prosecutor Serdar Coşkun. The document concerns the raid on Akıncı Airbase in Ankara by the coup perpetrators on the night of July 15. The date on it reads July 16, 1 a.m., three hours after the coup attempt began to unfold.
In the document, there are references to some incidents on the night of the coup that had yet not taken place. For instance, it talks about the bombing of the Turkish Parliament and the presidential palace by the perpetrators although these incidents took place later in the night. Photo from Ahmet Dönmez’s website. According to an indictment concerning the incidents at Akıncı Airbase on the coup night, the first bomb was dropped on the Turkish Parliament by the putschists at 2:35 a.m., while the second was dropped at 3:24 a.m. Although nobody was killed in the attack on Parliament, the paper prepared by Coşkun says people were killed in the attack.
There are also some incidents mentioned in the document but which never took place on the night of the coup. For example, it talks about the siege of National Intelligence Organization (MİT) headquarters in Ankara and the bombing of the Special Forces Command and Security Directorate’s Intelligence Unit by the pro-coup soldiers.
The document also gives inaccurate information about the timing of the incidents that took place that evening. For instance, the document says the Boğaziçi and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges over the Bosporus were closed to traffic by the coup soldiers at 22:28 p.m. despite the fact that it was at 9 p.m.
Similarly, the paper says F-16 jets began to fly over Ankara at 9 p.m.; however, according to the Akıncı Airbase indictment, the first F-16 jet used by the coup plotters took off at 22:08 p.m. in Ankara.
The official document also talks about the raid on some private TV stations by the putschists, but no name is mentioned. On the night of the coup, it was only the Doğan Media Center, which hosts the CNN Türk and Kanal D TV stations and the Hürriyet newspaper, which was raided by the pro-coup military troops. The raid on the Doğan Media Center took place at 3:10 a.m., two hours after the paper was written.
The official document’s presentation of incidents around the presidential palace on the night of the coup is also suspicious. It says the presidential palace was besieged by pro-coup soldiers who aimed to “take over the palace,” but only 13 officers, three of whom were high-ranking, and 10 privates, went to the palace that night.
In addition, no bomb was dropped on the presidential complex. It was a car park and overpass near the presidential complex that were bombed on that night. These incidents took place at 6:19 a.m. according to the Akıncı Airbase indictment, five hours after prosecutor Coşkun wrote the document.
In Coşkun’s document, more inaccurate information claims the dropping of noise-generating bombs by military jets in Ankara. However, no such bomb was dropped that night. The sonic boom caused by the speed of the jets and their low altitude were mistaken for the noise-generating bombs.
Another mistake in the document concerns the appointment of new officers as the chief of general staff and force commanders by the putschists, which never happened.
At a time when no evidence had been collected and the incidents were still unfolding, the controversial document names Turkish-Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen, whose views inspired the Gülen movement, as the instigator of the coup attempt.
“Politicians could make such a statement [accusing Gülen], but a prosecutor preparing such a document without collecting any evidence shows that his work was politically motivated rather than judicial,” says Dönmez.
According to the journalist, so many mistakes on a one-page document is not normal, and almost every single line in the document contains inaccuracies and makes one reach the conclusion that the state knew beforehand of the incidents that would take place on that night and that it was a staged coup attempt.
Many in Turkey believe that Erdoğan knew of the coup attempt or was part of the group who plotted it as he wanted a pretext to launch a crackdown on the Gülen movement as well as all his critics to consolidate his one-man rule.
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Gokmen ULU from the newspaper “Sozcu”, who had been in Marmaris for the last two days, questioned ERDOGAN’s location at Sozcu’s website. He even invited the readers to a poll to predict ERDOGAN’s exact location. The choices were interesting: Okluk Cove, a hotel, a friend’s villa, or outside the country [1]!
ULU’s poke served to provoke the dissenters’ focus on ERDOGAN’s precise location. Before noon
Ankara
MIT
According to ERDOGAN and the Government, a Major from Army Aviation School, in Ankara allegedly went to the Turkish Intelligence Agency Headquarters and reported that he and some officers from the Army Aviation School were tasked to fly 2 SIKORSKY and 1 COUGAR helicopters, from 19:00 until late at night, and capture FIDAN.
MIT did not inform the Turkish Military about the report until 16:45 and failed to inform ERDOGAN and the Government until the events started later that night.
What happened at MIT from the first time the Major came till 16:45 is not yet accounted for.
There is no credible official information about who the Major was and what happened to him afterward.
The Major’s alleged report served ERDOGAN and FIDAN to build their version of the story.
Before noon
Ankara
Silopi
Maj Gen AKSAKALLI allowed Special Forces Brigade Commander and alleged dissenter Brig Gen Semih TERZI to travel to Ankara. AKSAKALLI rationalizes his permission on TERZI’s wife’s request the day before and TERZI’s call on July 15th to visit his father, who was sick in Ankara.
TERZI’s wife denied her request to AKSAKALLI and stated that TERZI was pulled into a trap in Ankara. TERZI’s wife was arrested a few weeks after 15 July.
On arrival, TERZI was killed by AKSAKALLI’s Military Aide. Later, the pro-ERDOGAN media portrayed TERZI as one of the leading actors of the alleged coup and a prominent Gulenist.
AKSAKALLI officially testified after the events that he had been meeting with the Undersecretary of Turkish Intelligence Agency (in Turkish, Milli Istihbarat Teskilati-MIT) Hakan FIDAN since May 2016 and sharing with him the names of possible Gulenists in the Military.
TERZI’s trip to Ankara was a deliberate plot prepared by AKSAKALLI to provoke the events of 15 July.
Noon
Izmir
Cigli Airbase
Brig Gen Gokhan SOZMEZATES, coming from Istanbul, arrived at the Cigli Airbase.
He was later accused of preparing the mission at night to capture ERDOGAN [2].
Afternoon
Istanbul
Yalova
Chief of Air Force, Gen Abidin UNAL officially visited the summer training camp of Air Force Academy in Yalova, near Istanbul. He addressed the cadets following the lunch [3].
Later that night, the cadets were tasked for a snap exercise and driven to the Bosphorus Bridge.
14:00
Istanbul
Heybeliada
Chief of Turkish Naval Force ADM Bulent BOSTANOGLU and Commander of the Fleet ADM Veysel KOSELE had a long and non-routine one-on-one private meeting in Heybeliada, before their participation in the graduation ceremony of the Naval Military High School.
14:00
Ankara
TGS
A meeting on military planning against terrorism took place at Turkish General Staff (TGS) Headquarters (HQ). The principal participants comprised Deputy of the Chief of Turkish Military Gen Yasar GULER, Army Chief of Staff Gen Ihsan UYAR, Maj Gen Zekai AKSAKALLI and around 20 more Generals.
Around 16:30 during the meeting, GULER received a memo and calmly left the room.
Attendees of the meeting commented on the memo, which had the word “coup” on it. They were under the impression that a coup, led by the Chief of General Staff Hulusi AKAR and Chiefs of the Services, was being initiated[4].
One attendee from Turkish Land Forces HQ testified that when he went back to Land Forces HQ and reported the about the “coup” to his supervisor Maj Gen Omer Sevki GENCTURK, his response was: “So, they are informed as well.”
GENCTURK later stayed at the HQ until late hours until he was arrested by the dissenters. He did not resist the arrest.
GENCTURK is currently the main coordinator of the purges in the Turkish Ministry of Defense.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY - NOVEMBER 20: Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces Hulusi Akar, delivers a speech during Defence and Security Committee (DSC) as part of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly's (NATO-PA) 62nd Annual session in Istanbul, Turkey on November 20, 2016. NATO-PA annual session takes place between 19th and 21st of November 2016 in Istanbul. AFP Photo
Then-Chief of General Staff and current Defense Minister Hulusi Akar was the head of the putschist group that issued mobilization orders and declared martial law in Turkey on the night of a failed coup in July 2016, according to documents obtained by the Nordic Monitor news website.
Turkey survived a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that claimed the lives of 249 people and injured a thousand others. The coup attempt was suppressed overnight and there remain many questions about the real masterminds of the abortive putsch.
Following the coup attempt, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government declared a state of emergency that remained in effect for two years while it launched a massive crackdown on followers of the Gülen movement as it accuses the movement of masterminding the failed coup. The movement strongly denies any involvement.
The documents obtained from a computer at the General Staff headquarters that was used to write the coup statement included draft versions signed by Akar himself on behalf of the Council of Peace in the Homeland (Yurtta Sulh Konseyi), the name the putschists gave themselves. In one document he was identified as president of the council, while in another draft his name was removed but the word “signed” was inserted, bolstering the view that the chief of general staff actually signed the directive.
The members of the Council of Peace in the Homeland were never identified despite the fact that thousands of officers who were apparently not involved in the putschist mobilization have been investigated, indicted and convicted on dubious coup and terrorism charges since 2016, when the coup attempt was launched during prime time with moves found bizarre by many, such as blocking the bridge between the European and Asian sides of İstanbul.
In the version that was transmitted through secure channels, the council name was at the end of the three-page directive, which was communicated with further orders. The version that was announced later by the public broadcaster and posted on the website of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) was circulated as signed by the council without mentioning Akar’s name, although other drafts included his name and signature.
That apparently created confusion among generals and admirals who received the initial orders from headquarters that were transmitted using the Turkish military’s secure communication channel, MEDAS. The transmitted message, written by a lower ranking officer, included the title of brigadier general as the officer who approved the message, which was unusual given the fact that the directives mentioned reassignments in the superior ranks, i.e., at the level of general and admiral.
Although his name was listed in the seized documents as the man who directed the coup attempt, Akar was not charged and was not put on the stand for cross-examination. He was summoned by opposition party lawmakers in parliament who were investigating the coup, but Akar refused to appear. When criticism mounted over his failure to cooperate, he sent a written explanation but did not show up at the hearing held by the parliamentary commission.
Akar was even promoted to defense minister in Erdoğan’s new cabinet, and the entire military apparatus was placed in his portfolio with new legal changes. The documents were examined by an expert from the police department and submitted to the court during the coup trials, but neither the prosecutors nor the judges questioned why Akar’s name was indicated as the signatory of the martial law directives, according to Nordic Monitor.
Originally Posted by Thanas Django
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