A report by the news site 15temmuz.info has raised questions about the life sentences handed down to 16 members of Turkey’s Special Forces Command after a failed coup in 2016, arguing that the soldiers were punished without proof that they knew they were taking part in an attempt to overthrow the government.
The report claims that these soldiers were arbitrarily selected for a mission without knowing it was a coup, highlighting alleged flaws in the judicial process that condemned them to support Ankara’s official narrative.
The team consisted of a mix from the 1st and 3rd teams of the 12th Battalion, commanded by Fatih Şahin. The team, consisting of the remaining officers and non-commissioned officers after six personnel were randomly left behind at Etimesgut Airport in Ankara, included: Ahmet Muhammed Demirci, Ali Güreli, Ali Solmaz, Cemal Güleç, Cihat İbrahim Yörük, Erhan Almaz, Erkan Kütükçü, Furkan Aslanbay, Gökay Engin, Halit Çelik, Harun Topbaş, Hasan Aksoy, Hüseyin Oğuz, İsmail Çınar, Mehmet Bilge, and Mihrali Atmaca. Following Turkey’s 2016 coup attempt, all of these personnel, who provided security for the Special Forces Command (ÖKK) headquarters and conducted duties within the scope of the investigation for about 15 days, received life sentences. Until the alarm was given on the day of the coup attempt, these individuals were conducting preparations for an operation or terrain reconnaissance regarding the rural area of Lice, a district in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. The situation of this team in the trial remains a complete mystery, despite acting under the orders and command of Zekai Aksakallı, the head of the Special Forces Command at the time, and even receiving his thanks. In our opinion, these are military personnel sacrificed to support the ‘traitor’ profile needed to manage the public perception of the coup attempt. In this regard, they are important actors in untangling the knot of the trial.
The team personnel, as well as the team and battalion commanders who set out from Diyarbakır, had already mobilized upon an alarm and were under the impression they were heading for a counter-terrorism operation. The court stubbornly argued that this was a coup activity but failed to determine this with concrete evidence. In the application of ÖKK duties, there are many cases where emergency preparation orders are given without providing mission details. Ultimately, what the defendants learned from the media was that this was an uprising by a small group, and their common belief was that they were sent on a mission to suppress this initiative. The court, failing to present concrete evidence that this was a coup activity, also completely ignored the possibility that it could have been a routine operation within the scope of their duties. The court practically engaged in mind-reading and declared the defendants ‘coup plotters’ with a perspective based on questions like, ‘Why did you check your equipment before going on the operation?’, ‘Why did you comply with principle orders?’, ‘Why did you select the most suitable team for this operation?’, and ‘Why did you act cautiously before landing in Ankara?’
One of the names who testified that the selection of the team was in line with the normal flow of events is witness Ahmet Kemal Yılmaz. Ahmet Kemal Yılmaz is a witness who did not hide his near-hateful feelings towards Fatih Şahin during his testimony, stating that he suspected Şahin was a coup plotter because his face went completely white in response to a comment. Even this witness, whose testimony against Fatih Şahin carries suspicion and could even be called biased, stated that the selection of the 1st and 3rd Teams was normal, and that the 1st team had served in all operations conducted as a single team in the past.
Likewise, Fatih Şahin explained the reasons for selecting the 1st and 3rd teams in his defense. Under normal conditions, ÖKK battalions are supposed to consist of six teams, but due to a lack of personnel, three teams serve in each battalion, and Fatih Şahin’s battalion also consisted of three teams. Of these, the 1st and 2nd teams are maneuver teams, while the 3rd team is a support team. It is perfectly normal to select the 1st team instead of the 2nd team because the latter was small in number and had a newly appointed, inexperienced commander. It was also normal to select the 3rd team, the support team, due to the necessity of taking critical weapons and equipment in accordance with principle orders. In fact, if the conditions were different and the selection had not been made this way, it would have been possible for Fatih Şahin to face an investigation for dereliction of duty. Deducing a coup intent from this contradicts not only the law but even the most basic principles of logic.
The statements of the witnesses regarding the fact that the situation related to the selection was an ordinary one provide important clues. Normally, there were two battalions planned to depart from Diyarbakır: the 12th and 16th battalions. For this, two CASA-type aircraft were requested at Diyarbakır airport. However, since only one aircraft arrived, 24 people from the 12th battalion set off on the first plane, and orders were given for the rest to come on the next flight. At this point, a question asked by the defense attorney is quite remarkable. That is, events proceeded in their normal course, and boarding or not boarding the plane was determined by momentary choices. However, these momentary choices ruined the lives of some and saved others from life imprisonment. This is the court’s approach, and it can never be considered an effort for justice.
The court attributes meaning to some ordinary choices within the scope of the duty, while it cannot even make an assessment for other choices. One of the events the court did not comment on is that six people chosen from among the team personnel by Ahmet Kemal Yılmaz did not go to the ÖKK headquarters, and because they stayed away from the events in the Gölbaşı district of Ankara (where the headquarters is located), they were not even named as defendants. While two helicopters were expected for the 12th battalion personnel planned to go from Etimesgut airport to Gölbaşı, only one helicopter was available. Ahmet Kemal Yılmaz’s selection of the six people who would wait for the second helicopter changed the lives of both those who went and those who stayed. While explaining how he made the selection, Ahmet Kemal Yılmaz used the expressions, ‘I turned to my left. There were six personnel on my left… I told them to stay here,’ stating that the selection was random, and not even a single investigation was opened against him. At this turning point of fate where fair trial died, if a different group of six people had been chosen, those who received life sentences and those who were saved would have been different. Such a picture encountered in a criminal trial shows the end not only of law and justice but also of reason, conscience, and even humanity.
You can read the full news article here.
Source: 15Temmuz.info
