Fake IDs, constant changes of appearance and lying low bought about a decade of freedom for Burkay Karatepe, one of the would-be assassins of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). This came to an end earlier this week when authorities announced on Friday that Karatepe, the only fugitive member of a team of assassins who escaped capture after the 2016 coup attempt by FETÖ was foiled, was apprehended in Afyonkarahisar, close to his hometown of Emirdağ.
Karatepe, a captain in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) when the coup attempt unfolded, joined other FETÖ infiltrators in the military in a bid to assassinate Erdoğan during the coup attempt and raided the hotel in southwestern Türkiye’s Marmaris where Erdoğan was vacationing at the time. Erdoğan narrowly escaped the attempt and flew to Istanbul, where he mobilized crowds to stand against the putschists, while two police officers guarding him were gunned down by the assassins. Resistance by anti-putschist security officers forced Karatepe and the others to abandon their plans and flee.
Other members of his team were caught within days while hiding in the countryside, while Karatepe almost vanished into thin air. A fellow would-be assassin claimed that he ditched his military fatigues, donned shorts and slippers, and sought to blend in with tourists in Marmaris. Nothing was heard from Karatepe after that, though authorities questioned his family about his possible whereabouts, and it was suspected that he might have fled to nearby Greek islands, as other members of the terrorist group had done.
Media reports on Sunday said that Karatepe kept a low profile while working as a junk collector and, at times, at construction sites. Indeed, it was a fellow construction worker who reportedly led to his capture. The man questioned by police claimed he did not know Karatepe’s true identity and knew him only as “Salih,” but still agreed to lend his cellphone to him, investigators later found.
Security sources said it was the facial recognition systems of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) that helped authorities pinpoint Karatepe’s location. When the facial recognition system indicated a 77% match with a man captured on camera near a park in central Afyonkarahisar on March 14, security forces launched a surveillance operation. In the following months, the same man was captured on security cameras across the city another 14 times, mostly in different outfits, sometimes with or without a beard, and usually covering his head with caps and berets.
Eventually, MIT and police counterterrorism units launched an operation to capture him in the derelict building where he was hiding. Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said on Sunday that Karatepe was drunk at the time of his capture and that authorities also discovered a stash of drugs in the building. He was the only resident of the building, which had no electricity or running water. Security forces, however, found a sizeable stash of cash and gold in his possession and are now tracing their origins and investigating who might have funded his escape and years in hiding.
Karatepe had gold nuggets worth more than TL 6 million, and more than $33,000 and 2,620 euros in his possession, along with a laptop, three cellphones and a fake ID.
Karatepe was on the Interior Ministry’s “red list” of most-wanted terror suspects.
He was transferred to the province of Muğla, where Marmaris is located, for legal proceedings. He will likely face aggravated life imprisonment for the assassination attempt alone, along with additional sentences for crimes such as attempting to overthrow the government, forgery of official documents and possession of drugs.
Security sources said Karatepe was also caught on camera while attending a meeting at a hotel in Afyonkarahisar and had started moving from one residence to another in recent months, apparently suspecting that he was under surveillance.
