ANKARA (AA) – Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office on Friday filed an indictment over the incidents at Turkey’s 4th Akinci Main Jet Base last July 15 during the defeated coup initiated by Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).
Akinci — which was renamed Murted after the attempted coup — located outside Turkey’s capital Ankara, was used as a base by some pro-coup soldiers, and some of the jets which took off from the base that night bombed several places in the capital, including the parliament building. Loyal Turkish military officers were also held hostage at the base.
Below is part II of the indictment:
9 p.m. (1800GMT)
Chief of General Staff Strategy Department Maj. Gen. Mehmet Disli enters Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar’s room and says: “Sir, the operation has begun. We’ll take everyone, the brigades and troops are on their way, you will see soon.’
Akar told Disli clearly that he does not support the coup attempt. But Disli did not back down, and after exiting the room, he orders his team to handle Akar.
After the order, executive assistant Staff Col. Ramazan Gozel, Staff Col. Orhan Yikilkan, Lt. Serdar Tekin, Sgt. Maj. Abdullah Erdogan and aide-de-camp of chief of General Staff, Lt. Col. Levent Turkkan enter Akar’s room.
Turkkan tells Akar to sit down and not cause any trouble. The coup plotters then force Akar to sit on his chair and put a cloth over his mouth and nose; plastic clamps are also used to tie up his hands.
Turkkan then aims his gun at Akar and threatens to kill him. Akar responds with “Shoot man!”, adding: “I will not support your attempt, no matter what you do.”
9.03 p.m. (1803GMT)
Senior ex-military officer and coup plotter Mehmet Partigoc along with a group of other putschist officers enter FETO member and ex-officer Gokhan Eski’s room and call Murat Aygun, commander of 28th Artillery Brigade, ordering him to take action.
9.16 p.m. (1816GMT)
Serkan Kilic, Ali Emre Eral and Recep Yildiz take control of the entrance and exit of the Armed Forces Operation Center in the General Staff Headquarters.
9.20 p.m. (1820GMT)
A bus carrying 33 Special Forces personnel reaches General Staff Headquarters from the 4th Main Jet Base Command.
9.22 p.m. (1822GMT)
Gokhan Eksi meets the 33 Special Forces personnel, they head towards the command floor along with Staff Col. Dogan Ozturk and Master Sgt. Suat Saglam, and enter the 1-A gate, which Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar uses.
9.23 p.m. (1823GMT)
Chief of Personnel at General Staff Ilhan Talu guides Special Forces personnel to the hallway of the General Staff headquarters and misleads Yusuf Yalcin, guard of the 2nd chief, and Mehmet Satun, a sergeant on duty by saying an exercise is being carried out.
9.26 p.m. (1826GMT)
An order declaring “Traffic will be free to exit Istanbul through E-5 and TEM [highway], traffic will be prevented and refused to enter Istanbul” is given by the coup plotters in the “Peace at Home” Whatsapp group.
9.28 p.m. (1828GMT)
Instruction given in the Whatsapp group says: “Those who have to be taken in should be taken in immediately”
9.29 p.m. (1829GMT)
The Yalova military tower reports two Cougar-type helicopters belonging to the 135th Squadron Konya 3rd Main Jet Base have landed at the Yalova Square Command and refueled.
9.37 p.m. (1837GMT)
A “Preparation Notice and Alliance Transmission” message is sent to the MAGG 5101 from the General Staff Headquarters’ Message and Document Distributing System (MEDAS).
9.43 p.m. (1843GMT)
A tanker aircraft named 58-0110 Asena 02 takes off illegally from the Incirlik 10th Tanker Base Command in Adana province with fuel. The aircraft is carrying suspects Squadron leader Orcun Kus (aircraft captain), 1st Lt. Eyup Bahadir Pekince (co-pilot), 1st Lt. Yavuz Cam (co-pilot) and Sgt. Ferdi Evcimik (air refuel operator).
9.47 p.m. (1847GMT)
A tanker aircraft named 60-0325 Asena 01 takes off illegally from the Incirlik 10th Tanker Base Command in Adana province for fuel delivery with 1,50,500 pounds of fuel. The aircraft is carrying 1st Lt. Osman Yilmaz (aircraft captain), Staff Col. Erhan Gazioglu (co-pilot), Staff Capt. Murat Altay (co-pilot) and Sgt. Hasan Kargin (air refuel operator).
The aircraft does not return radio calls or respond to Rapcon warnings and also they do not follow designated routes. It keeps the radio closed during the flight and ignore broadcasts from the Guard channel.
The ASENA01 tanker aircraft refuels six times the F-16s taking part in the coup attempt at 3.17 a.m. (0017GMT), 4.04 a.m. (0104GMT) and 5.01 a.m. (0201GMT) on July 16, 2016 in Ankara.
9.48 p.m. (1848GMT)
“ASSIGNATION” message is sent from MEDAS.
9.52 p.m. (1852GMT)
“Armored Communication Vehicle Transmission” message is sent from MEDAS.
9.53 p.m. (1853GMT)
“Attendance” message is sent from MEDAS.
9.56 p.m. (1856GMT)
“Akom [Istanbul’s Disaster Coordination Center] is under control” message is sent to “Peace at home” Whatsapp group.
10.05 p.m. (1905GMT)
An order is given on “Peace at Home” WhatsApp group: “First army commander has been calling commander of Kuleli [Military High School]. First army commander should be immediately captured.”
10.08 p.m. (1908GMT)
Suspect Adem Kirci takes off without permission in an F-16 jet codenamed Sahin-1, which is loaded with ammunition. The plane flies at low altitude above the capital, Ankara. At 10.44 p.m. (1944GMT), it lands at Akinci Airbase.
10.16 p.m. (1916GMT)
Six F-16 planes get ready to take off from Diyarbakir’s 8th Main Jet Base Command without permission.
Four other F-16 jets take off from the Akinci 4th Main Jet Base Command without permission.
10.17 p.m. (1917GMT)
Coup plotters force commanders of the Turkish Land Forces Salih Zeki Colak, Ihsan Uyar and Ertugrul Gazi Ozkurkcu to leave the General Staff Headquarters.
10.18 p.m. (1918GMT)
Adjutant of Turkish Land Forces Commander Yunus Can is blindfolded and taken out of General Staff through the 1-A door with his hands tied.
10.20 p.m. (1920GMT)
An aircraft codenamed GOREN, which was brought from Kayseri province with the aim of carrying out reconnaissance, takes off from the Akinci Airbase.
Following an order by suspect Ahmet Ozcetin, the plane, which included suspects Lt. Col. Olgun Acuce and Maj. Mustafa İleez from the Turkish Air Force Command takes off.
Acuce and Ileez lock the coordinates of Ankara Golbasi Police Special Forces building and Golbasi Special Forces Command into the aircraft’s system.
10.21 p.m. (1921GMT)
A message “Martial law instructions” is sent to all ministries via the General Staff’s system of sending messages and papers, MEDAS.
10.28 p.m. (1928GMT)
News channels begin breaking news that traffic on Bosphorus and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges have been blocked by troops – there is now one-way traffic, from Anatolian side to Europe, the channels add.
10.29 p.m. (1929GMT)
Five or six helicopters are seen north of Imrali Island in the south of the Sea of Marmara.
10.30 p.m. (1930GMT)
Suspect Nazif Baysal — the senior pilot of CN235 type plane — arrives at Ataturk Airport from western Izmir province’s Cigli district, bringing Lt. Col. Hasan Kucukakyuz and Maj. Gen. Culha from the Army Aviation Technical School Command and their spouses to Istanbul.
In the same plane, Baysal takes a combined military team, including those who worked under the SAT Command – Underwater Attack, a special operations unit of the Turkish navy, to the Akinci 4th Main Jet Base Command in Ankara, which was used as a main base by pro-coup soldiers.
Sefa Sefer Guleroglu is the co-pilot of the aircraft, which also includes technicians Murat Tasar and Ramazan Aytekin.
10.32 p.m. (1932GMT)
An orde
r is given on “Peace at Home” WhatsApp group: “Istanbul chief of Police Department is coming to the bridge. He should be arrested.”
10.35 p.m. (1935GMT)
Six F-16 planes take off from Diyarbakir’s 8th Main Jet Base Command without permission.
Pilots Yavuz Istek, Ibrahim Yozgat, Erdem Erdogan, Fatih Sen, Aziz Ersel Emanet, Ahmet Ozdemir, Ceyhan Karakurt and Yildiray Korkmaz fly the planes at low altitudes above Ankara and later land at the Akinci Airbase.
10.36 p.m. (1936GMT)
Brig. Gen. Kemal Mutlum from the Air Force Operations Centre contacts Erzurum and orders that two F-16 should take off, and informs that a commercial aircraft carrying the interior minister would land at the Malatya Erhac Airport.
10.42 p.m.
The GOREN aircraft, which had taken off the from Kayseri 12th Air Transportation Main Base Command and landed at Akinci Airbase, leaves the Akinci Airbase without permission with the aim of transferring images and marking them with lasers through the “Muster, Scouts, Rover” system and giving the coordinates to rogue F-16 jets.
10.42 p.m. (1942GMT)
Suspect Selahattin Yorulmaz accompanied by pilot Hasan Husnu Balikci take off in an F-16 jet loaded with ammunition from the Akinci Airbase, and later make a low-altitude flight above Ankara; they land at the Akinci Airbase at 12.01 a.m. (2101GMT)
10.45 p.m. (1945GMT)
Six F-16 planes, which took off without permission from Diyarbakir’s 8th Main Jet Base Command, are asked to return; however, the jets do not respond to the order.
10.48 p.m. (1948GMT)
Suspect Aziz Ersel Emanet’s ammunition-laden F-16 jet lands at Akinci 4th Main Jet Base from Diyarbakir’s 8th Main Jet Base Command. Before landing, he makes a low-altitude and high-speed flight above Ankara.
Emanet takes off with his jet again and makes a second low-altitude flight above Ankara, and returns to Akinci Airbase at around 12.15 a.m. (2115GMT).
10.53 p.m. (1953GMT)
Kutahya radar detects two helicopters flying around Imrali Island.
10.54 p.m. (1954GMT)
Six F-16s from Diyarbakir 8th Main Jet Base Command, four F-16s from Akinci Airbase, two tanker aircraft from Incirlik Airbase, and the GOREN plane from Akinci Airbase are flying in Turkish airspace without permission.
An order is given on “Peace at Home” WhatsApp group: AKP’s [Ruling Justice and Development Party] provincial organization is on the way. Do not allow them to go. Guns free [you are free to use your guns].”
10.55 p.m. (1955GMT)
Brig. Gen. Semih Terzi asks Col. Akgulay from Diyarbakir’s 8th Main Jet Base Command to arrange two transport aircraft over Ankara.
Akgulay takes the issue up with Eskisehir Combined Air Operations Centre, which denies permission.
Later, suspect Brig. Gen. Osman Nuri Gur at Air Force Operations Centre contacts Diyarbakir, informing that Terzi is asking for two transport aircraft to be sent to Etimesgut Airport
Terzi then flies a CASA aircraft without permission and moves it towards the Ankara Etimesgut Airport.
