During the 13th hearing of the trial involving 486 defendants regarding the events at Akıncı Base—the operational center of the coup attempt—former Lieutenant Colonel Özcan Murat Doğan stated that at the base’s control tower, “no one provided information regarding a flight ban issued by the Chief of General Staff.”
Former Lieutenant Colonel Doğan, who served as the Air and Space Power Research Branch Manager of the Air Force Command, presented his defense during the hearing.
In his defense, Doğan explained that he later read a public statement by then-Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and assumed that the fighter jets taking off from Akıncı following that announcement were flying to counter the coup attempt.
Doğan stated that he went to Akıncı Base on July 15 after being urgently summoned by another officer. Believing there was an ongoing anti-terror operation, Doğan claimed he intervened when he saw Lieutenant Colonel Nihat Altıntop acting outside official directives. Doğan noted that although Altıntop insisted it was a coup attempt and that the jets should be grounded, Doğan opposed him because he had never seen fighter jets used in a coup before.
Reiterating that no one in the tower mentioned a flight ban from the Chief of General Staff, Doğan stated that he began suspecting Altıntop of collaborating with the putschists. He later assumed Altıntop’s subsequent arrest by commandos was due to this alleged collaboration.
DEFENSE CLAIMS OF ‘STRATEGIC MISTAKES’
The hearing continued with the defense of former Brigadier General Aydemir Taşçı, the former Intelligence Chief of the Air Force Command. Taşçı argued that military leaders caused crucial delays in preventing the coup by hiding intelligence from their subordinates.
Taşçı stated that high-level officials from the military, police, and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) had gathered earlier on July 15. “Representatives of Turkey’s security units were at our disposal. However, commanders who foresaw major events failed to share this intelligence with security units, leading to the deaths of 250 people,” he argued. “A mistake at the strategic level cannot be fixed with tactical maneuvers.”
