Testimony and court documents cited in a report by Baybars Zengin for 15temmuz.info appear to contradict President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s account of when he left the southwestern resort town of Marmaris during Turkey’s July 15, 2016 coup attempt.
Zengin says statements by Erdoğan’s protection officers and other witnesses indicate that the president left Marmaris at around 11:30 p.m., nearly two hours before the 1:15 a.m. departure described in the official account.
The discrepancy matters because Erdoğan has repeatedly said that soldiers accused of attempting to capture or assassinate him arrived at his hotel about 15 minutes after he left.
Zengin argues that establishing a detailed timeline from official records could clarify what happened in Marmaris between Erdoğan’s departure and the arrival of the soldiers later prosecuted over the operation.
According to the report, such timelines are routinely maintained by military and police command centers and are also used in criminal investigations, aviation accidents and cybercrime cases.
Zengin says his analysis is based primarily on documents from the Marmaris trial.
WHEN DID ERDOĞAN LEAVE MARMARIS?
According to Erdoğan, officials who were with him and pro-government media reports, the president called local journalists to the villa where he was staying shortly after midnight.
Erdoğan reportedly addressed them at around 12:05 a.m. The footage could not immediately be carried by national television networks because of technical problems.
He then appeared on CNN Türk through Apple’s FaceTime application and called on the public to take to the streets, squares and airports to resist the coup attempt.
Under the official account, both the meeting with local reporters and the FaceTime appearance took place at the villa shortly after midnight.
Erdoğan has said he left the villa by helicopter at 1:15 a.m., flew to Dalaman Airport and departed at 1:43 a.m. aboard the presidential aircraft, identified by the call sign TC-ATA.
The plane landed at İstanbul Atatürk Airport at 3:18 a.m.
Erdoğan later said the soldiers sent to capture him arrived about 15 minutes after he left the hotel.
Zengin says testimony in the Marmaris court file conflicts with this account.
PROTECTION OFFICERS PLACE DEPARTURE AT 11:30 P.M.
Police Officer Burak Güzel, a member of the Presidential Protection Department assigned to Erdoğan in Marmaris, reportedly testified that the president left by helicopter at around 11:30 p.m.
Another protection officer, Uğur Göküz, gave the same approximate departure time, according to the report.
Zengin says testimony to parliament by Serkan Yazıcı, owner of the villa where Erdoğan stayed, also supports an earlier departure.
He cites statements by Justice and Development Party lawmaker Nihat Öztürk, presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın and soccer coach Ertuğrul Sağlam, who was vacationing nearby, as further indications that Erdoğan left Marmaris at around 11:30 p.m.
Zengin also argues that the content of Erdoğan’s statement to local reporters suggests that it was recorded between 11 and 11:15 p.m., rather than at 12:05 a.m.
His statement is below.
Another protection officer, Uğur Göküz, gave the same approximate departure time of 11:30 pm, according to the report.
This statement is also below.
Had the statement been made after midnight, Zengin says, Erdoğan would likely have referred to the occupation of the state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corporation and the bombing of the police Special Operations Department in Ankara. Those events had not yet taken place at the time Zengin believes the statement was recorded.
Zengin concludes that the speech may have been recorded before Erdoğan left Marmaris and broadcast later as though it were live.
CLAIM THAT ERDOĞAN WAS IN İSTANBUL BEFORE PRESIDENTIAL PLANE LANDED
The report also cites testimony concerning a telephone call made at 2:43 a.m., 35 minutes before the presidential aircraft officially landed at İstanbul Atatürk Airport.
According to testimony by retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Nihat Kökmen, Şirin Ünal, a retired major general and then lawmaker for the ruling Justice and Development Party, called him from İstanbul that night.
Zengin says Ünal told Kökmen during the call that Erdoğan was in İstanbul and beside him.
If accurately recorded and interpreted, the statement would conflict with the official account that Erdoğan was aboard the TC-ATA aircraft, which was still in the air at 2:43 a.m.
The report does not establish independently how Erdoğan could have reached İstanbul earlier or confirm that Ünal’s statement was literal.
ALTERNATIVE TIMELINE PROPOSED BY REPORT
Based on the documents and testimony he cites, Zengin proposes the following timeline:
11 p.m.: Erdoğan addressed local reporters at the villa in Marmaris.
11:30 p.m.: Erdoğan left Marmaris by helicopter.
12:05 a.m.: The earlier statement to local reporters was broadcast as though it were live, creating the impression that Erdoğan remained in Marmaris.
12:24 a.m.: Erdoğan appeared on CNN Türk and other television networks through FaceTime. Zengin claims his actual location at the time was not disclosed.
1:43 a.m.: The TC-ATA presidential aircraft departed Dalaman Airport. Zengin questions whether Erdoğan was aboard.
2:43 a.m.: Şirin Ünal reportedly told Lt. Gen. Nihat Kökmen that Erdoğan was in İstanbul and beside him.
3:18 a.m.: TC-ATA landed at İstanbul Atatürk Airport, marking Erdoğan’s official arrival under the government’s account.
Zengin argues that the discrepancies raise questions about why Erdoğan’s precise movements were not disclosed in a consistent and transparent timeline.
He claims the inconsistencies may relate to what Erdoğan and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) knew before the coup attempt and to the events surrounding the deaths of two police officers in Marmaris.
Zengin also alleges that intelligence operatives had been placed among the soldiers sent from İzmir and reported their movements. He further claims that another armed team arrived near Erdoğan’s hotel before the soldiers later prosecuted in the Marmaris case, fought with police officers and disguised themselves as military personnel.
Those allegations remain claims by the writer and are not established by the testimony described in this article.
Zengin said the next installment of his series would examine the team he alleged arrived in Marmaris earlier and the death of presidential protection officer Mehmet Çetin.
He also noted that the documents he cited were included in the Marmaris court file.
Zengin argued that prosecutors and judges could have constructed a detailed timeline from the records but instead imposed a news blackout on the investigation.
