Deciphered correspondences between Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) members revealed that the group long planned to pursue a strategy of constant denial in the trials of its followers, long before last year's coup attempt. The group's infiltrators in the military are blamed for the coup attempt on July 15, 2016, which killed 249 people.

Almost all of the defendants in the coup trials have outright denied their involvement despite overwhelming evidence presented against them. Anadolu Agency reported that investigators checking the correspondences of a FETÖ-linked academic on ByLock, an encrypted messaging app, found the group's senior figures ordered followers to always deny their links to the group.

A message sent to followers on Feb. 17, 2016, instructs those on trial for FETÖ links to deny everything if they do not have a persuasive answer to interrogators, prosecutors and judges' questions. "Deny it was you even if they present your photos with others [implicated in FETÖ investigations]. Just say I don't remember if you are questioned about a past affair," the message reportedly says.

The instructions are apparently directly copied by those on trial for the coup attempt such as Kemal Batmaz, one of the suspected masterminds of the coup attempt. This former executive of a company linked to the group was captured at Akıncı Air Base in Ankara where coup plotters oversaw the putsch. Security camera footage shows Batmaz freely walking around the base and even receiving a military salute from a general. Still, Batmaz repeatedly denied that it was him in the high-definition footage and claimed he has never been inside the base.The coup trials in Turkey started last year and hundreds of officers, from lieutenants to generals, are being tried for the coup attempt. So far, only a few defendants have acknowledged their links to FETÖ despite evidence showing their meetings with the group's members.

Most of the defendants have also avoided saying FETÖ was behind the coup attempt. Plaintiffs' lawyers say this is a defense strategy to vindicate them, hoping that FETÖ will liberate them from prison.

FETÖ leader Fetullah Gülen, who currently lives in Pennsylvania, is the prime suspect in the coup cases and faces life imprisonment. However, Gülen has not returned to Turkey to attend the trials and Ankara has been actively seeking his extradition from the U.S.

In Muğla, the southwestern province where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was spending his vacation during the coup attempt, a trial of 47 defendants was underway yesterday on charges of attempting to kill the president during the coup attempt.

Erkan Çıtak, a non-commissioned officer who was among the troops sent to assassinate Erdoğan, defended himself by claiming that he thought they were sent to capture a terrorist. He heaped praise on Gökhan Şahin Sönmezateş, the brigadier general who coordinated the assassination attempt. He said he did not question his superiors' orders. He said he was ordered to handcuff police officers they came across as they approached the hotel where Erdoğan was staying.

"We came under fire and fled to avoid police fire," he said.

The would-be assassins killed two police officers guarding the hotel while Erdoğan, upon learning of the attempt on his life, left the venue and flew to Istanbul where he mobilized crowds to confront the putschists.