Col. Ahmet Özçetin was the highest-ranking officer to direct operations at Akıncı Air Base in the capital Ankara on July 15, 2016, when the coup attempt unfolded. Özçetin, who stands accused of coordinating air assaults across the capital that killed dozens of civilians and cooperating with other putschists loyal to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), defended himself in a trial Friday. He claimed that the court would even declare him guilty of "burning Rome."
His defense was almost a duplicate of other defendants who stuck to denial of their involvement in the coup although all evidence points out that they openly tried to seize power from anti-coup officers and others. His defense comes after evidence was presented in court, including images of Özçetin joined by other pro-coup officers and testimonies of dozens of putschist officers who claimed they were "invited" to the base by the colonel on July 15. Özçetin was also in contact with other pro-coup officers while coordinating the Ankara leg of the takeover.
Questioned by prosecutors and lawyers for the plaintiffs, Özçetin said he "did not make phone calls" to other putschists, claiming he did not have his cellphone on him. He even denied security camera footage showing him with other putschists. "It looks like me," he said, while he clearly identified Hakan Evrim and Hakan Karakuş, two other co-defendants in the case. He also claimed that Gen. Abidin Ünal, the Air Force commander who was abducted by putschists and taken to the Akıncı base, was "not forcibly brought" to the base. Özçetin also denied accusations that he ordered troops to "raid TV stations" and "disperse [the anti-coup] crowd in Kızılay [Square]."
When prosecutors read out excerpts from intercepted radio communications of pro-coup pilots that showed it was Özçetin who ordered the airstrikes across Ankara, the former colonel said it was not him.
Özçetin is among 486 defendants in the Akıncı trial being held at a courtroom inside a prison complex in Ankara's Sincan district. The trial started the first week of August with Fetullah Gülen, the U.S.-based leader of FETÖ, as the "number one" suspect. FETÖ is accused of planting its men in the army and instructing them to carry out the putsch bid.
In a hearing Thursday, Özçetin stated that he did not invite Hakan Çiçek, owner of a FETÖ-linked school, to the Akıncı base on July 15. Çiçek was among the "civilians" captured in or near the base after the coup attempt and claimed he visited the base upon an invitation by Özçetin. The colonel said he did not know who Çiçek was. Along with Çiçek, Adil Öksüz, Kemal Batmaz, Harun Biniş and Nurettin Oruç were also captured in connection with the coup attempt. Öksüz is accused of masterminding the attempt, but he remains at large after being controversially released. All of the "civilians" in question are closely linked to FETÖ, though they claimed they were in or near Akıncı by coincidence.
At the trial that opened earlier this month, all of the defendants face aggravated life sentences. The indictment charges the suspects, including 25 generals, of trying to topple the government through armed insurrection.
Gülenists had been infiltrating the army, law enforcement, judiciary and bureaucracy for decades, prosecutors say, before they moved to seize power in two coup attempts in 2013 through their infiltrators in the judiciary and police and, finally, by infiltrators in the army.
Fetullah Gülen denies any links to the coup, but evidence surfaced after the thwarted attempt showing that he actually gave approval for the plot to seize power by FETÖ-linked military officers, ranging from generals to noncommissioned officers.
