Coup plotters planned to kidnap president, take him to naval ship
by Ceyhan Torlak
ISTANBULOct 24, 2016 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Ceyhan Torlak
Oct 24, 2016 12:00 am
An indictment on the July 15 coup attempt says coup plotters planned to kidnap President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and take him to a naval ship off the Istanbul coast if he were in Istanbul at the time of the putsch attempt.
The plan, revealed by secret witnesses questioned by prosecutors in the western city of İzmir, says non-military members of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) jointly planned the coup that was ultimately foiled by public resistance, with followers of FETÖ in the army and FETÖ leader Fethullah Gülen approving of the plan three days before it was put into action.
Erdoğan and his family was vacationing in Marmaris, a resort in the southwestern Turkey, during the coup attempt and apparently changing plans, coup plotters dispatched a team of elite assassins to kill him. Erdoğan managed to escape at the last minute by secretly flying from Marmaris to Istanbul.
The indictment by prosecutors in İzmir says Fethullah Gülen is the "number one" suspect in the case where 267 others are accused on coup charges, including 13 generals.
Secret witnesses said Adil Öksüz, a theology professor who served as Fethullah Gülen's point man in the Turkish Air Forces, met military officers linked to FETÖ in a villa in the capital Ankara before the coup attempt and drafted the plot to seize power. Öksüz then flew to United States and met Fethullah Gülen. Having his approval, Öksüz returned to Turkey and Gülenists launched the coup attempt. Adil Öksüz, who was captured at a military base in Ankara after the coup attempt was foiled, remains at large after judges controversially ordered his release pending trial.
The indictment based on secret witnesses' testimony says FETÖ members in the Special Forces branch of the army would have taken Erdoğan to a helicopter and fly him to a Turkish Navy ship off the coast of Istanbul if he was in Istanbul at the time of the putsch attempt. Other senior figures, including Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, would have been taken to Akıncılar air base where Adil Öksüz was captured if the coup succeeded. The indictment also says the coup plotters' first action if they had succeeded would have been to release FETÖ members that were arrested before the coup attempt.
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