A Turkish columnist has suggested that Lt. Gen. Zekai Aksakallı’s removal from the Special Forces Command may have been meant to reduce scrutiny after a senior commander testified that Aksakallı said he was at home consoling his wife while his headquarters was occupied during Turkey’s July 15, 2016 coup attempt.
Habertürk columnist Nagehan Alçı raised the question after Aksakallı, one of the most publicly celebrated commanders in the government’s account of the coup attempt, was moved from the Special Forces Command to the 2nd Corps Command in Çanakkale under new military appointments published in the Official Gazette.
Alçı cited testimony that İsmail Metin Temel, then commander of Turkey’s 2nd Army, gave to the Malatya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office about the night of the attempted takeover.
According to Alçı’s account, Temel said Aksakallı called him and said, “The headquarters has been occupied; I am at home.”
Temel said he told Aksakallı to return to headquarters, and that Aksakallı replied, “I am consoling my wife.”
Alçı wrote that the statement presented “exactly the opposite” image of Aksakallı from the one widely known to the public.
“Perhaps they wanted these debates to end by pushing Aksakallı out of sight,” she wrote.
The claim is sensitive because Aksakallı has been central to the public story of the attempted takeover at the Special Forces Command.
He is widely reported to have ordered noncommissioned officer Ömer Halisdemir to shoot Brig. Gen. Semih Terzi, who had gone to the Special Forces Command during the coup attempt. Halisdemir shot Terzi and was then killed, later becoming one of the best-known figures in the government’s commemoration of the night.
Alçı said some of her sources suggested Aksakallı had become too visible and too frequently discussed, implying that his transfer amounted to being sidelined.
She also noted, however, that the 2nd Corps Command was not formally a lower-ranking post than the Special Forces Command, while adding that the Special Forces Command was far more prominent in the public eye.
Aksakallı’s reassignment came as part of a broader reshuffle in the Turkish Armed Forces.
The Ministry of Defense appointments also named Brig. Gen. Ahmet Ercan Çorbacı as the new Special Forces commander.
The testimony cited by Alçı does not establish what Aksakallı did for the rest of the night or whether his actions were improper.
But it raises a question about a key figure in the official narrative: whether the public image of Aksakallı as an active commander resisting the attempted takeover from the outset is fully consistent with testimony that he initially said he was at home while his headquarters was under occupation.
That question also explains why the reassignment drew attention beyond ordinary military personnel changes.
If Temel’s testimony is accurate, Aksakallı’s timeline could become part of a broader debate over what senior commanders knew, where they were and how they acted during the coup attempt.
