Former Defense Minister Hulusi Akar described what he saw during the July 15 coup attempt.
Photo: Archive. (AA)
Taking part in a live broadcast on Habertürk TV marking the eighth anniversary of the failed coup attempt, Akar provided information about what happened that night.
Key points from Mr. Akar’s speech include:
* Turkiye will be governed as a satellite. They don’t care about their Azerbaijani brothers and they don’t want to respect relations with Libya. The protection of FETO members abroad is a clear indication of this.
*Their true faces began to be seen from December 17 to 25. They infiltrated various units from the beginning. They dissolved 10,005 connections. Since July 15, this number has reached a total of 24,652. Somehow officers and generals have infiltrated. Operations are also being carried out in the judiciary, intelligence agencies, army and universities.
* We continued to do that. We tried to collect information and materials. Thus, our friends were working. At this time, this information and documentation is being worked on in cooperation with our friends. We approached the YAŞ study with this understanding. We kept it as secret as possible. At that time, Yaşar Güler Paşa was the second president. About 120-130 generals and admirals decided that it was not appropriate to remain in the army.
“They were scared.”
* When we spoke with the respected President, I said that there is also a political sector and a private sector. I am grateful that they support us. Essentially because of this, according to some information, there is an opinion and information that the attempted coup of the betrayal of the fall was postponed to July because of this fear and panic. We understand how correct our approach is, and the terrorist organizations panic. They saw that we were trying to liquidate us, so they resorted to perverse means and attempted a coup. We do not think that it will become so big and that a parallel state structure will attempt a coup. This was the biggest shock I have ever experienced.
Major provided the information
* I was at the General Staff. Yaşar Paşa came. He said that the major came and said that MİT’s head would be taken. “Come and talk,” I said. We spoke with the minister to understand the gravity of the situation. We discussed the situation with the second president and commander of the ground forces, Mr. Hakan. It is already Friday. The shift is over. I have heard similar rumors in the past. The commander of the garrison was the late Servet Paşa, he served in the armored forces. It turned out to be unfounded. We acted cautiously. We said: “Let’s take down the planes, let’s take down the empty planes, let’s not allow the planes.” We decided, item by item, what we could do. I gave a direct order with clear precautions. I called the operations center. The operations center is a system with dozens of personnel and specialists working 365 days a year. This system works quickly. The order we gave was to head to the airport in Kars at 19:25.
“It was all normal for us.”
Planes are banned from taking off. Our army commander went to ground aviation and told him that there was nothing wrong with the unit from which the major came. I sent the army commander to inspect. The second chief of staff goes to his work. So I compiled the assessment of my friends. Hakan made various calls. We gave those orders. We said that there may be an attempt, it must be prevented. We carried out the necessary investigations. It all seemed normal to us.
We were working in our room. There was a knock on the door, and someone came in. Mehmet Disli came in. “You will see it soon,” he said rudely. I was not sitting at the official desk. I was sitting at my desk. “The battalion and the brigade are coming, join us,” he said. I said, “Are you crazy? That will not happen, don’t dare.” We shouted and called. A lot of soldiers came in. It was not normal. That’s what I call a shock. It was like we were hypnotized. Lieutenants, guards, people we knew and people we didn’t know, burst in. We shouted and called. We heard voices from outside. Some were swearing.
“Dammit, you bastard.”
The deputy came in and said, “If you don’t take responsibility, I’m going to shoot you.” We walked up to him and said, “Fuck you, you son of a bitch.” We had our mouths closed, we couldn’t breathe. He was holding us with something over our mouths and noses. That’s where the disconnect happened. We fell over, got up, sat on the couch. We yelled, “Take off the handcuffs.” They butchered it and pried it off. We found out later that it was ether they had down our throats.
When I sat down, they said, “We’re going home now.” It was 11 o’clock. We left the office. All the special forces elements were there. They were mankurts, with guns in their hands, with robotic faces. “What are you doing here?” I said. Someone walked back with a rifle. I shouted at them, “Go away.” There was a scuffle there. I wanted a shroud too. There was integrity in the attire. I didn’t have a gun. When we went outside, they landed a helicopter in the middle of the General Staff. There was a scuffle while driving down the road. They pointed their rifles at the helicopter, but we intervened with a kick. We arrived at the Akıncı base. There they took us to a room. There was a coming and going in the room. Generals and colonels coming and going. They said, “We started the coup attempt, stay with us.”
* They had their own dreams. So they told me, “The coup continues to succeed, please take control of our country.” I yelled at them and said, “What you have done is very disgraceful and despicable.” I said, “You have fallen into the swamp once, so from now on you should be manly and courageous and surrender to the prosecutors, the police, the police, whoever you want.” They went back and forth several times.
Request to meet with Gülen
There were Omer, Devrim, Mehmet Düşli, Akun Öztürk and Kublai. They said, “Can you read this declaration?” I pushed them away with the back of my hand, but I couldn’t get it. Now they themselves read it. They read about the economy in the declaration. “Who are you, what do you know?” I shouted. “Who is your head, who is your ass?” I said. They said, “If you want, we will contact the opinion leaders and Mr. Fethullah Gülen.” I refused. In the morning, after they lost their morale, they tried to get me to meet the president, but I was told that they couldn’t contact him.
There is a TV there. At some point the TV turns on but then it goes off immediately. I saw the explosion of the Police Operations Center. After seeing the devastation of the soldiers on the Bosphorus Bridge in the morning. Finally they said, “We have arrived at Hakan Bey.” We had a very short meeting. I was able to talk to the women for about 10-20 seconds. They are at home and are also experiencing another drama. I spoke with the respected Prime Minister Binali. Meanwhile the runway was being bombed. To prevent the planes from taking off. They saw it and panicked. I said I was going to the General Staff. They said, “Go to Çankaya.” They arranged for a car. Akin Oztürk also came. “I’m going too,” he said. I insisted, “Stay here.” They were surprised and there was an atmosphere of panic.
“Don’t come” order to Dishri
I was in the room and I said, “Go outside and let me breathe.” The people in the room told us, “There are civilians outside.” We got on a helicopter. I told Mehmet Dışli, “You don’t come either.” I said, “I have to come. They are shooting. I will contact the coup leaders and ensure their communication: ‘Don’t shoot.'” We came to Çankaya. It was Türül Türkes Bey’s room. They took us there. We experienced a great shock. They put guns to our heads. We told our friends that Mehmet Dışli was with them from the first moment.
※The judiciary assessed this sensitively and handed down the sentence. The guilty people were confirmed. While we were sitting in Çankaya, former Minister of Defense Ismet Yılmaz Bey said, “The following is happening in Malatya.” So we had a phone conversation and I said, “Surrender them.” When I spoke to the woman, she was crying. Her crying made us emotional. There was a non-commissioned officer who helped us at home. He held our family like a prison guard. He was also a member of FETO. He cut off our contact. He wouldn’t let me talk on the phone. He was very brutal. These are the faces my wife knows. FETO members posted on social media that we were dead. My wife and children are in a dire situation.
* We should all be thankful to the President here. He took an extremely steady stance. We need to respect the flag, the military colors, and the overwhelming majority of the military, police, and gendarmerie who are dedicated to their duty. This work took 12 hours. They have been preparing for years. It is great that this work was completed in 12 hours.
“They made me question things.”
These things make us doubt in our minds. Now, here comes a very honest person, but you doubt. This is terrible. This is not an easy situation to overcome in personnel management. Be a soldier, be a civilian. This virus has been introduced. We always wonder when we look around. We trust nobody as much as possible.
Erdogan: The purpose of those who call July 15 “theater” is to repay debts to FETO members
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