Putschist: Orders to kill everyone to seize control tower
A soldier, A.F., detained during the attempted coup on July 15 by the Gülenist Terror Organization (FETÖ) led by Fethullah Gülen, confessed in his testimony that he and other soldiers at Istanbul Atatürk Airport were ordered to kill everyone in the way of their seizure of the control tower.
"A major told us to not hand over the control tower no matter what, and that the tower is very significant," A.F. said, adding that they were all allowed to shoot at anyone trying to get close to the control tower.
A.F. asserted in his testimony that the major threatened them with court martial before coup plotter judges should they disobey the orders and fail to shoot. The soldier also said that after seizing the control tower at the airport, the main target was the plane carrying President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
As soldiers and high ranking military officers testify before prosecutors following the bloody coup attempt, the public is learning more about the plans intended by FETÖ.
Another detained coup plotter confessed in his testimony that some FETÖ members gathered in his home a day before the attempted coup without his knowledge and made the last arrangements.
Testifying before a prosecutor, Muhammed Uslu, who used to work at the Prime Ministerial Private Secretariat, gave the names of higher ranking Gülenist figures and shared crucial information.
"Brother Selahattin [who Uslu reports to and works for within FETÖ] came to my home without my knowledge on Thursday [July 14] and held a meeting with some people. My wife told me after I got home. … Normally they do not come to my home when I'm not there. So there was some urgency that they held a meeting in my home a day before the coup attempt," Uslu said. Claiming that he did not know who came to his home that day, Uslu continued: "If Lieutant Col. Levent Türkkan and Gökhan Sönmezateş say they came to my home, then it's true."
Uslu also confessed that he illegally wiretapped Chief of General Staff General Hulusi Akar on the orders of FETÖ. "I used to do spiritual and religious things at first, but they told me to move in discretion after the wiretapping of the Chief of General Staff started. They told me that I was wiretapping the Chief of General Staff for God's sake and goodness. So I believed it," he said.
"A major told us to not hand over the control tower no matter what, and that the tower is very significant," A.F. said, adding that they were all allowed to shoot at anyone trying to get close to the control tower.
A.F. asserted in his testimony that the major threatened them with court martial before coup plotter judges should they disobey the orders and fail to shoot. The soldier also said that after seizing the control tower at the airport, the main target was the plane carrying President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
As soldiers and high ranking military officers testify before prosecutors following the bloody coup attempt, the public is learning more about the plans intended by FETÖ.
Another detained coup plotter confessed in his testimony that some FETÖ members gathered in his home a day before the attempted coup without his knowledge and made the last arrangements.
Testifying before a prosecutor, Muhammed Uslu, who used to work at the Prime Ministerial Private Secretariat, gave the names of higher ranking Gülenist figures and shared crucial information.
"Brother Selahattin [who Uslu reports to and works for within FETÖ] came to my home without my knowledge on Thursday [July 14] and held a meeting with some people. My wife told me after I got home. … Normally they do not come to my home when I'm not there. So there was some urgency that they held a meeting in my home a day before the coup attempt," Uslu said. Claiming that he did not know who came to his home that day, Uslu continued: "If Lieutant Col. Levent Türkkan and Gökhan Sönmezateş say they came to my home, then it's true."
Uslu also confessed that he illegally wiretapped Chief of General Staff General Hulusi Akar on the orders of FETÖ. "I used to do spiritual and religious things at first, but they told me to move in discretion after the wiretapping of the Chief of General Staff started. They told me that I was wiretapping the Chief of General Staff for God's sake and goodness. So I believed it," he said.