An indictment issued by Istanbul-based prosecutors indicates that it was not only troops that carried out the July 15 coup attempt last year masterminded by Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). Two police chiefs linked to the terrorist group are accused of aiding the putschists as the latter was taking over the main police headquarters in Istanbul. Mithat Aynacı, a former police chief was found inside a tank commanded by putschists and the indictment released yesterday also names İsmail Uğuz as an accomplice of the putschists who surrounded the police headquarters with tanks. Uğuz was stationed in Edirne, a northwestern city but traveled to Istanbul specifically to take part in the takeover attempt of police headquarters, prosecutors say, pointing to his past links to the terrorist group. The testimonies of witnesses also revealed that Uğuz was a senior FETÖ figure in law enforcement.

The indictment of 67 suspects details the actions of the putschists who targeted police headquarters, only to be confronted by an angry but unarmed public. The strong public resistance in Istanbul and other cities helped security forces to quell the coup attempt, but 250 people died when putschists indiscriminately fired upon civilians blocking their way to important places, such as the Presidential Palace and a main bridge in Istanbul.

İsmail Uğuz had traveled from Edirne to Istanbul on July 15 and apparently checked into a hospital around 2 a.m., hours after the coup attempt had begun. Prosecutors say this was an attempt to establish an alibi and question why he did not return to Edirne when his superiors summoned him to the city for help quelling the coup bid. Uğuz went missing after an arrest warrant was issued for him and he was captured in Istanbul last October. He was carrying a fake ID at the time of his arrest.

The indictment shows Uğuz was an active user of Bylock, an encrypted messaging app exclusively used by FETÖ members. Testimonies of secret witnesses – mostly former members of FETÖ - state that Uğuz was a senior FETÖ member and was always present at secret meetings for the group's members with their infiltrators in law enforcement. Witnesses say Uğuz, who had served in Istanbul in the past, helped the terrorist group's infiltration into law enforcement when he was responsible for office supervising assignments. Secret witnesses also point out close ties between Uğuz and Mithat Aynacı.

Mithat Aynacı, who was in charge of a security unit four years ago and had left his duty after the Dec. 17 and Dec. 25 2015 coup attempt blamed on FETÖ, was found in an armored personnel carrier on Istanbul's Vatan Avenue. He was wearing a police uniform and took part in attempting to take over the police department.

He was deputy police chief in the Istanbul Police Department during the Gezi Park protests in 2013 and promoted to police chief on July 25, 2013. Then he was appointed deputy district police chief in the Gebze district of Kocaeli. He had reportedly resigned from duty on Jan. 29, 2014 due to health reasons after the Dec. 17-25 coup attempt investigation launched against Gülenists last year. Later, Aynacı petitioned to return to his position, but he was not assigned a duty.

According to the indictment, Aynacı was found inside the carrier where pro-coup troops took refuge when anti-coup police and citizens overwhelmed them during the putsch bid. Like Uğuz, Aynacı was a Bylock user and in possession of a $1 bill, a signature object helping secretive group's members to recognize each other. Prosecutors point to links between several high-ranking military officers arrested for coup attempt, noting multiple phone calls between Aynacı and putschists. Aynacı left home when a military officer phoned him on the coup night and went to police headquarters. Lt. Col. Osman Akkaya, who took part in the coup attempt, told interrogators that one of his superiors gave him Aynacı's number and told him that Aynacı would help in taking control of the police headquarters. Akkaya could not meet Aynacı as the crowd of civilians blocked the soldiers' route to the headquarters, but he told interrogators he saw him entering the carrier when people around reacted to him when they realized he was working with the putschists. Another suspect held after the coup attempt told prosecutors that Aynacı was angry when he was detained and blamed the soldiers for "failing to execute the coup." Bora Serhat Seçkin, another coup suspect who was with Aynacı inside the personnel carrier, told interrogators that Aynacı told them, "We captured Ankara and İzmir. This is the only place left."

Although those who joined the coup attempt were largely on-duty military officers, several figures linked to FETÖ, instructed by the group's point men, were found taking parts in the putsch attempt including two former police officers who were in hiding after arrest warrants were issued for them for their FETÖ membership. Lokman Kırcılı and Gürsel Aktepe, two former police chiefs, were detained near police intelligence headquarters in Ankara after they arrived with guns to aid the coup plotters.

Investigators have discovered a message sent to fellow Gülenists by a senior FETÖ member who ordered Gülenists in law enforcement to "help troops." "Stop what you are doing and help the soldiers. Inform everyone and tell them to get their guns and go to army headquarters (in Ankara). Whoever is available should go to army headquarters, police headquarters, and anti-terror police headquarters. Shoot anyone resisting the coup and help the troops," the message sent to a former police chief arrested during the coup attempt reads.