Four technicians at the national satellite company compound in Ankara affiliated with the Gülenist Terror Organization (FETÖ) attempted to cut the broadcast of all TURKSAT TV stations during the July 15 failed coup attempt.

Sources told Daily Sabah that all of the technicians are linked to FETÖ, and they took part in the coup attempt, trying to prevent the media from reporting on it.

Investigations have found that coup plotters first wanted to cut all satellite broadcasts across Turkey and raided the TURKSAT compound to do just that. However, they failed and had to receive technical support. Four technicians came to assist the coup plotters. One of them, Salih Mehmet Dağköy, worked as information technologies director first for the Gülen Movement-linked Samanyolu TV and then the similarly affiliated Şifa Hospital. Birol Baki, another technician in the coup team who is a specialist on uplink and satellite broadcasting systems, had also worked at Samanyolu TV.

The other technicians, Burhan Güneş and Aydın Yavuz, worked at the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). Both have been dismissed from the institution for being suspected of having links to FETÖ.

All of them were detained by police who surrounded the TURKSAT compound, which had been occupied by the putschists on the night of July 15. Among the coup soldiers who raided TURKSAT, Erdal Karlıdağ, a major in the Ankara Provincial Gendarmerie Commandership and an intelligence officer, admitted in his testimony that they were informed about the plan.

"On [the] Wednesday [before the coup attempt], two people came to my home. Among them, Halil told me that a list of 3,000 gendarmerie forces who are active and in favor of FETÖ, including me, were prepared and that those who are on the list will be dismissed in the upcoming Supreme Military Council [YAŞ] meeting in August.