Deputy PM asks US to reveal visa documents of top coup suspect

ANKARA

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ has urged U.S. officials to reveal all documents it has on Adil Öksüz, who is considered to be the key suspect in the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, after a phone call was made to Öksüz from a number registered to the U.S. Consulate six days after the coup attempt.

“The phone call made from the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul is to Öksüz’s phone number, which he is actively using. There are two numbers registered in his name, however, the U.S. Consulate calls him from the number he is actively using. The question is, how does the U.S. Consulate know this is his active number?” Bozdağ said in a televised interview with state-run broadcaster TRT Haber on Aug. 23.

Öksüz is accused of being a leader of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) responsible for the Air Force in the Turkish Army. He is one of the five civilians taken into custody near or at Akıncı Air Base, considered to be the headquarters of the coup attempt.

The prosecutor’s indictment of the case about the events at the Akıncı Base on the coup night, stated Öksüz received a call on July 21, six days after the coup attempt, from a phone number registered to the U.S. Consulate.

As the indictment was issued on March 2017, U.S. officials issued a written statement claiming the call was a routine procedure concerning his visa application.

“It is interesting that the last number to call this phone is the U.S. Consulate. There are no other calls. Does he have a visa application to the consulate? If there is [an application], then there should be phone numbers he declared in the application,” Bozdağ said, asking the U.S. officials to reveal documents concerning his visa application.