Journalist Adem Yavuz Arslan has alleged that some of the civilians killed during the 2016 coup attempt were shot with ammunition that does not belong to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) inventory. Relying on ballistics and autopsy reports from court files, Arslan highlights that these findings cast doubt on the official narrative and raise questions about unidentified perpetrators whose identities remain unresolved by the courts.
One striking detail in the report involves a rocket that struck a wall at the Presidential Palace on July 18—three days after the coup attempt. Arslan claims this shoulder-fired rocket was traced back to military equipment transferred to the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) 15 years ago, yet the incident remains uninvestigated.
QUESTIONS OVER FORENSIC EVIDENCE
The article highlights severe flaws in the preservation of forensic data. Nihal Olçok, who lost her husband and son during the coup night, publicly stated that evidence from the scene was not properly preserved. Furthermore, some records regarding key weapons—such as an MP-5 submachine gun allegedly used in a high-profile shooting—were later missing from the case files.
In the Gendarmerie General Command trial, a ballistics report confirmed that 377 shell casings found at the scene were fired from 44 different weapons. However, only 26 military defendants are on trial, leaving 18 weapons unaccounted for. Similarly, armor-piercing 9mm bullets, which are strictly prohibited for NATO military personnel and absent from TSK inventory, were extracted from several victims. The courts have reportedly failed to investigate the origins of this non-military ammunition.
UNIDENTIFIED ARMED GROUPS
The article also raises questions about unidentified armed individuals present that night. Following the distribution of unrecorded weapons to civilians by the Ankara Police Department, one of these firearms was later used in a civilian murder. Additionally, military defendants testified that they engaged in clashes with unidentified paramilitary groups before official police units arrived.
Overall, the report suggests that significant anomalies in ballistic reports and autopsy findings are being systematically overlooked, leaving the true circumstances surrounding many civilian deaths unresolved.
