The most important foundation of all coup trials opened after Turkey’s 2016 coup attempt is the testimonies of two secret witnesses, former military officers turned informants, whose claims are raising concerns due to numerous contradictions.
These are the famous testimonies or claims stating that the final shape of the coup plan was given at a meeting chaired by Adil Öksüz, a key civilian figure accused of leading the coup plot, in a villa in the Çukurambar neighborhood of the capital, Ankara, one week before the 2016 coup attempt.
The code names of the secret witnesses who made these statements are “Hat” (Şapka) and “Raven” (Kuzgun).
They are both witnesses and defendants. They are under arrest and wish to benefit from the effective remorse law.
They later revealed their identities; therefore, we can state their names.
“Hat” is Hakan Bıyık, a former Colonel and Acting Chief of Staff of the Foça Gendarmerie Commando Training Command during the 2016 coup attempt.
“Raven” is Halil İbrahim Yıldız, the former commander of the Foça Amphibious Marine Infantry Brigade.
Both explained that they attended the meeting with Adil Öksüz at that villa in Çukurambar, that the members of the Peace at Home Council (the junta’s self-proclaimed governing body) were determined there, and that they saw figures such as former Air Force Commander Akın Öztürk, and senior military figures Mehmet Partigöç and Ömer Faruk Harmancık in the said house.
However, they later gave contradictory statements… They made some changes to their previous testimonies or stated that things they never said were recorded in the transcripts, etc.
For example, while Halil İbrahim Yıldız explained in his testimony as “Raven” that during the meeting at the villa it was discussed that “then-Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar and the Force Commanders would be persuaded,” he stated in court: “It was said that the Chief of General Staff was involved in this coup. It was said that the Force Commanders were involved in this coup. We later understood that neither the Chief of General Staff nor the Force Commanders were involved in the coup.”
Likewise; while he initially said, “The coup plan was made there,” he testified in court: “I evaluate that this plan was not a coup plan, but a minor coup plan made to circulate certain fabricated lists and to establish necessary controls over these lists. Because I am an Admiral, as an Admiral I am the Brigade Commander of the İzmir Region; let alone the İzmir Region, if necessary, I am the only Brigade in Turkey, I am one of the strongest Brigades. If I set out from here, I would completely destroy İzmir. Look, I am staging a coup, I will be involved in the coup, my troops will not be involved in the coup, and I will stage a coup with two men… This is not a coup plan… A coup does not happen like this, a coup is not planned like this. I could not see this at the time.”
He also said he saw Akın Öztürk in that villa and ate next to him, but later stated, “Pardon me, apologies. I confused him with Adil Öksüz. There is no such thing.”
In his testimony as “Raven,” he said they gathered at the house of one of the “coup plotters” and that the lady of the house hosted them. Because of this, that woman—a mother of three and a teacher—was both arrested and dismissed from her profession. However, in court, he said the following:
“….. I have never seen the lady anywhere, in any way, in any setting, and I do not know her. I know neither her children nor her. I have never stated this in any way, in any testimony anywhere.”
There are many contradictions, let us not drag it out. However, let us emphasize that the coup defendants, whom “Hat” and “Raven” claimed to have “seen in the villa,” rejected this allegation, and some even proved that they were not even in Turkey on the specified date, yet the statements in question are still considered the most important “evidence” in the trials, and let us continue.
THEY WERE ALSO GIVING QUESTIONS TO AKSAKALLI
During his court interrogation, “Raven” Halil İbrahim Yıldız also explained that they were given exam questions at the War Academies 15 years ago.
When Yıldız stated that he passed the Academy exam on his second attempt and that only general knowledge questions were given in the first exam, the Presiding Judge asked who gave the questions.
After Yıldız said that someone codenamed “Remzi” who took care of them gave the questions, the following dialogue took place between him and the Judge:
Yıldız: While studying at the War Academies, questions were given to other groups by instructors. When we went to study with them, I don’t know which group the other group belonged to, the instructor asked a question, we just started chatting there because I was the youngest there, I was there as the class of 1989. There were the 1990s, there was one year younger than me, there were the classes of 1988, 1987, 1986, up to 1984. Even our current Special Forces Commander, what was his name, look, I forgot his name.
Judge: Zekeriya Aksakallı.
Yıldız: Zekeriya Aksakallı was our senior there. Even when we went to him, they were giving him questions too; he would say, ‘Hey Halil, come here.’ He would say, ‘Hey, did you look at this?’ Zekeriya Aksakallı would open the book. He was a Major at the time. He would say, ‘Come, read this.’ I would say, ‘I will read it, sir, but what for?’ He would say, ‘Just read it, never mind.’ I would read it. I would take the exam, and the exact same questions appeared.
It is normal for the Presiding Judge to make a mistake in the name of Special Forces Commander Zekai Aksakallı. However, it is highly interesting that an Admiral, especially such an important witness, cannot even remember the name of Aksakallı, about whom he made a very serious allegation.
Let us put that aside. Since the allegation is important and striking enough, a defense attorney asked, “You have also cast suspicion on an officer who is currently declared a hero in our country. Who are these certain groups; is it the Gülen movement (the group officially blamed for the coup), or a political ideological organization?”
Yıldız, upon this, spoke as follows:
“Because I do not know them. Sir, if you go to the academy back then, see the life at the academy, enter into groups of three or four, then you will understand. I do not know which group these certain groups are. How would I know which group the person over there belongs to, how would I know, so he gave him the question, when I went to him and said ‘Hey brother, how are you’, he says ‘take a look at this’, I do not know the details beyond that.”
Aside from the fact that the allegation regarding Special Forces Commander Zekai Aksakallı has been ignored, even though everything explained by “Hat” and “Raven” has been taken into account and splashed across front-page headlines;
Our hope is this:
Hopefully, Turkey is not experiencing, and will not experience, a repetition of the “secret witness” scandals seen during the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer sham trials (earlier politically motivated military purges)!..
