Gülenists may have killed key coup plot figure: Justice Minister Bozdağ

ANKARA

Adil Öksüz, a key July 2016 coup attempt figure whose whereabouts remain unknown, may have been killed by what prosecutors call the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ has claimed. 

“There is no certain information on the whereabouts of Adil Öksüz. He may be being hidden inside Turkey or he may be abroad. He may also even have been executed to prevent him from talking. We don’t know which of these possibilities is true,” Bozdağ told daily Milliyet on July 3. 

Bozdağ noted that the issue of the fugitive Öksüz, known as FETÖ’s “imam of the Air Force,” continued to be one of the main agenda points in Turkey. 

“Imam,” which traditionally refers to a religious public worker, is a term used by the followers of the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, widely believed to have masterminded the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt, to mark local leadership.

Öksüz was detained near the Akıncı Air Base, used by coup soldiers as headquarters, on July 16, 2016, only to be released by Judge Çetin Sönmez on July 18, after which he went on the run.

“Every intention or fault in the Öksüz incident is being examined. The necessary holding to account in front of the law will be done. The state has been mobilized with all its tools to find him. The possibility of Özksüz being inside the country is very weak, but can we say he has escaped abroad? No, we cannot say that 100 percent,” Bozdağ added.