Official reports on key coup plot figure contradictory

Mesut Hasan Benli – ANKARA

Three different official reports, reportedly prepared regarding a key figure in the July 15 failed coup attempt, believed to have been masterminded by the followers of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, have revealed contradictory information.

Three reports were prepared shortly after the failed attempt by security officials on Adil Öksüz, whom the Turkish government declared as the Gülenist organization’s “imam of the Air Force” and a leader of the plot in Turkey. 

Öksüz was briefly detained at Akıncı Air Base, used by the coup plotters as their headquarters in Ankara, before being released and is now being sought with an arrest warrant.
“Imam,” which traditionally refers to a religious public worker, is a term used by the Gülenist organization to mark local leadership.

The first report prepared around 2:30 p.m. on July 16 stated that Öksüz was carrying money and phones and was signed by three gendarmerie personnel and a police chief, identified only as H.K.

The second report, which carried the same signatures of the ones who signed the first report and was prepared around the same time, stated that in addition to money and phones, Öksüz was carrying a GPS coordinate determination device. 

H.K. was the name who received the objects found on Öksüz in both reports. 

A third report was prepared with the signatures of solely the gendarmerie officers on July 16 and didn’t state the time it was prepared. This third report said that “no GPS device was found on Öksüz, for it was thrown into a toilet.”

“The GPS device, which wasn’t found on Adil Öksüz, was thrown into a toilet by him and wasn’t received by us,” the third report read. 

Moreover, security sources said that H.K. left without taking the suspect from the Kazan district’s gendarmerie command.

“Police chief H.K. arrived in the command to pick up nearly 10 suspects, including Adil Öksüz. However, despite the fact that the documents were ready and were signed, he left Öksüz there saying, ‘There are other detained suspects. I will go there.’ He also said that the team arriving after him should pick up the suspects,” security sources told daily Hürriyet on Sept. 22. 

Meanwhile, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) commented on the Öksüz case, saying that “all political parties should follow the case closely.”

“The case is not ordinary. Why was Adil Öksüz released? Why can’t he be caught? Everyone should put emphasis on that,” he told daily Habertürk on Sept. 22, adding, “They hear of some things, but don’t talk about them due to a lack of information.”