Statements by organized crime figure Sedat Peker, nationalist politician Ümit Özdağ and former ruling party official Selim Temurci have renewed questions about the distribution of weapons to civilians and the possible role of unofficial groups during and after Turkey’s July 15, 2016 coup attempt.
A video published by the website 15 Temmuz Gerçekleri on June 30, 2022 brought together the three men’s statements, arguing that each had disclosed only part of what he knew.
Peker alleged in July 2021 that assault rifles not recorded in the state inventory were distributed to civilians under the coordination of then government minister Süleyman Soylu after the coup attempt.
He claimed that a crate of rifles was transported in a vehicle associated with the İstanbul youth organization of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and delivered in the city’s Balat neighborhood.
Soylu rejected Peker’s broader allegations against him and called for the weapons claim to be investigated. Peker did not publicly produce documents proving the alleged delivery.
Temurci, who was the AKP’s İstanbul provincial chairman at the time, later said he had learned that operations were conducted without the knowledge of the provincial leadership.
“Unfortunately, I learned that some operations were carried out behind our backs and without our knowledge,” Temurci said during a Halk TV broadcast in May 2022.
Temurci said any delivery involving an AKP youth branch vehicle could not have occurred without the knowledge of senior government figures and called for a judicial investigation. His remarks lent support to part of Peker’s account but did not establish who supplied the weapons, who received them or where they later went.
Özdağ, leader of the nationalist Victory Party, separately claimed that SADAT founder Adnan Tanrıverdi had spoken to him during a flight after mistakenly believing he was an AKP lawmaker.
According to Özdağ, Tanrıverdi described civilian preparations made before July 15 to block or take control of military units, including placing buses and trucks outside barracks.
Özdağ said a police officer accompanying him witnessed the conversation. Tanrıverdi and SADAT disputed allegations that the company played an unofficial armed role during the coup attempt.
Defendants in a later coup-related hearing cited the statements and requested that Peker, Özdağ, Temurci and SADAT officials be questioned as witnesses about weapons distribution and the activities of armed civilians.
The court postponed consideration of those requests until after the completion of the defense statements.
The statements raise unresolved questions about weapons distributed outside formal security channels, civilian groups mobilized around military facilities and why the allegations were not examined through a public investigation.
