Journalist Adem Yavuz Arslan alleged that some of the people killed during the July 15 coup attempt were shot dead by weapons that did not belong to the Turkish Army (TSK). The courts ignored this, although it has been proved, Arslan said in his column citing court documents.
A quite interesting note that Arslan shared argues that an attack on July 18, 2016, three days after the coup attempt, was carried out against the Turkish presidential palace with a MANPADS, and the weapon was given to the Turkish Intelligence Agency (MIT) fifteen years ago from TSK’s inventory. However, the incident was also covered up, Arslan said.
Here is the Arslan’s article where he traced the weapons used in Turkey’s failed coup attempt:
Something is common in almost all the post-coup trials but, it has come to the fore following Nihal Olçok’s comments, saying “pieces of evidence were swept away, the roads were cleaned up. We have something in common with Gulen-followers: Lack of evidence”.
Olçok, who joined the Davutoglu’s (Erdogan’s former ally) Future Party, said she could approve the opening of her son’s graveyard if necessary because there is no answer even to the basics questions in trials.
The courts, hearing the post-coup trials, have been acting in accordance with Dogu Perinçek’s saying, “the judiciary is the dog of politics.” The courts have not been responding to the defendants’ requests and acting partially.
I am going to share essential details in the following parts. However, let me first cite a dialogue from the ongoing post-coup trial of Gendarmerie General Command.
Tarık Kaya, one of the defendants in the trial, asked Mehmet Akif Arslan, who participated in the trial as a complainant, this question: “You said you are a religious official. You were shooting a Kalashnikov with a wooden grip on the night of July 15. Where did you get this gun?”.
In order to call this question as legitimate, there is no need to be a lawyer. The court should have normally sought an answer to this question as well. However, the president of the court dropped the subject, saying, “Let’s pass this question.”
No more AKP members in trials
When the post-coup trials begun, President Erdogan and AKP members were openly expressing about how and when the courts should decide in the trials. Many was taking to the trials, and the defendants were led to pass through a crowd of AKP members where they were subjected to mental and physical pressures. However, such organizations ended as the trials progressed.
There are two reasons for this. First, Erdogan’s propaganda about the coup attempt served its purpose. People believed it, so there is no need anymore to throw a hanging noose in front of the courts. The second reason, and the most important one, is that the defendants have been making a strong defense.
The uncovered contradictions, suspicious acts, and unanswered questions were so loud and clear that even AKP members could not turn a blind eye. So, they overlooked the trials.
The pieces of evidence clumsily gathered
Let’s look into the ongoing trial of the Gendarmerie General Command in the Ankara 23rd Penal Court
I’d like first to outline that there is no credible evidence so far, as Olcok said. The courts do not even look into surveillance footage as evidence, let alone finding out which weapon was used to shoot people. Everything, from fingerprints to chemical findings, has messed up. There are even two different autopsy reports for the same person. Some evidence/reports in case files seemed to vanish in subsequent hearings.
For instance, the gun, an MP-5 with a serial number of 11CO1248, which injured the head of National Police Counter Terrorism Unit Turgut Aslan and killed his guard Hasan Gülhan has been lost. There is no more record of the gun in the case file.
The record of a gun that holds significant evidential value had been stroke off, and the court did not even investigate the whereabouts of the weapon despite the defendants’ requests.
Another oddness is; police had collected 377 bullet casings of 5.66 mm caliber. Forensic reports substantiated that the bullets had been fired from 44 different guns. However, there are 26 suspects in the case, and there should be 18 more suspects. But, the court does not investigate who used the other 18 guns. As mentioned above, many people were carrying weapons that night, but the courts do not inquire about it. That’s why it cannot be proved who shot whom.
People killed by ammunition non-existent in Turkish Army inventory
Let’s carry on.
According to the autopsy reports in the case files, armor-piercing bullets were removed from the bodies of Mustafa Avcu, Yakup Başıbüyük ve Ömer Takdemir. These bullets were also found on the armored personnel carrier used by the putschists.
This is quite an important detail.
Because the Turkish Army does not have 9 mm armor-piercing bullets in its possession, one of the defendants lieutenant Necip Erkul said “Sarsılmaz, Yavuz 16, Kılıç 2000, Zigzaver, Zigana T, Baretta 16, MP-5 and Uzi can fire these bullets. However, military personnel of Nato countries is forbidden to use 9 mm caliber bullets, and these bullets cannot be found in their inventories. Then, where these bullets came from, and who committed these murders?”
Another question is; the report (ANK-BLS-19-09077) which were prepared following the inquiries to find the murderer of Ümit Çoban, Medet Ekizceli ve Rüstem Resul Perçin shows that the bullets were not fired from the defendants’ weapons. Then, who really killed these people? Why has this not been investigated?
This is a very appropriate question, and it is of considerable doubt. But, the court has not yet cleared up the suspicions.
The presidential palace
One of the most strange incidents took place in the presidential palace. A group of soldiers went to the presidential palace even tough they knew Erdogan wasn’t there, and they were neutralized immediately. An F-16 fighter jet dropped a bomb outside the exterior part of the palace yard several hours after the coup ended. This incident has been using by Erdogan’s regime as the most efficient propaganda material.
Let’s recheck the courts’ records.
Let’s take the bomb disposal document dated May 2, 2018, as an example.
A bag was found in the Botanic Parc of Presidential Guard Command among some military equipment. It was reported that there were 2 kg of explosives, an electric capsule, flare cartridges, and a safety fuze of 20 m in the bag.
Pay attention to the date and hour.
As far as is known, no putschist managed to enter the compound of the presidential palace. Who put these explosives inside the presidential compound?
Let’s move to the bigger question: July 18, 2016, in other words, three days after the coup attempt. Thousands were arrested, soldiers accused of the coup attempt were already captured and being tortured.
An incident of ammunition fired at iron railings of the presidential compound was reported at 11:45 (on July 18, 2016). The ammunition’s impact bent the iron railings. The ammunition could be a part of the RDY rocket’s body (a type of MANPADS), according to a criminal report.
It is still unknown who fired this rocket. Erkul argued, “RDY rocket was handed over by TSK to MİT fifteen years ago.” The way how the presidential palace was bombed was already suspicious; however, if his claim was right, it means that there is a big conspiracy (in the coup attempt). The fire of a rocket by putschists three days after the failed coup attempt while there were guards, police, and civilians present does not sound reasonable.
If the attack was carried out with the ammunition of TSK’s inventory, the court should trace this rocket to solve the mystery of the July 15 coup attempt. However, they did not take the necessary steps so far.
If weapons and ammunition do not belong to the Turkish Army?
It has been about 3.5 years, and yet, the fundamental questions of the coup attempt have been left unanswered. Just think about that some of the bullets killing the soldiers on the coup night were fired from the weapons not belonging to the Turkish Army. So, who shot these soldiers? Did some people step in that night to kill more people?
Let’s check open sources at this point.
It came out that the gun used to commit a murder in Ankara’s Çubuk district was one of the firearms distributed on the July 15’s night in front of Ankara police headquarter. After this scandal, the governor’s office of Ankara was compelled to admit the unlawful distribution of weapons on that night.
The head of psychological warfare unit in SADAT, organization which come under spotlight upon Turkey’s possible troop deployment into Libya, Nevzat Tarhan said in a televised program “Thousands of former soldier -dismissed from the Army on February 28, 1997, by YAS (supreme military council) – did what on the coup night? They know how to scotch a tank. They know about blunting the periscope of a tank. All of them took to the field that night.”
So, over 1000, former soldiers were in the streets. No one knows how many Jitem members, a secret group in the Turkish Army- was on the field.
According to MIT’s report, an unclear number of MIT officials were also in the streets, and they were armed. MIT reports an effective fight on the part of its personnel but, it is unknown who was targeted by these weapons and who was eliminated.
A Twitter user named Mansur ışık, an AKP supporter as can easily be seen from his Twitter profile, was telling in a stream on Twitter about a sniper shooting at civilians on the night of coup attempt. Another witness claimed to have seen a sniper on the roof of the Harbiye Military Social Facility. Mother of Mahir Ayabak, a young man who died that night, said, “Traitors laid an ambush. There was a black Transport with snipers inside. They opened fire at the crowd, and a bullet hit my son in the back and tore through his heart.”
“The bullets that killed police officers are not from our weapons”
One of the defendants accused of plotting assassination against Erdogan lieutenant Mehmet Demir points to the same issues: “A group of people went to Marmaris before we arrived and the killings of police officers happened in a gunfight which this group involved. They were not Turkish military officers. I believe they were paramilitary groups. We tried not to engage in the gunfight. 192 cartridges out of 772 in total collected after the incident belonged to us. Each of us had six military clips, but we only used one each. Other groups came before 03.20, and they initiated a gunfight. Police opened fire first. The bullet in the chest of the police officer who died in the gunfight did not come out of our guns. He was not in the range of our gunshot.
We started with Nihal Olçok, and let’s end it with her.
In a TV program hosted by Fatih Altaylı, Olçok said, “A sniper shot my husband and my son dead. If Abdullah (her son) could have remained silent rather than yelling “Baba,” he would not get shot. You know, I said Emir and Şamil (her other sons) that people who killed your dad and brothers. I did not want them to be filled with revenge. I received a news 6.00-7.00 in the morning and learned that they were really shot dead.”
According to the official narrative of the events, Erol Olçok was shot while he headed “for convincing” the soldiers.
However, the autopsy report says that he was shot behind his back with a tilted angle.
Thus he can’t be shot by soldiers in the back while he headed towards them to convince them.
Karar daily reported on this contradiction from the headline, but for some reason, it retracted the news piece, so this question is still unanswered.
As evident, there is a lot to be answered regarding what went down on the night of July 15.
Neither investigations were carried out properly, nor are trials.
Bullets that don’t belong to the Turkish Armed Forces inventory show up in civilian casualties of the coup night, that is established. Some ammunition is not from the defendants’ weapons.
Then who are the killers of these people?