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| The Grand Turk | |
| Turkey’s ex-air force chief ‘admits’ to plotting coup | |
| 2016-07-19 | |
| [IsraelTimes] Former Turkish Air Force chief has confessed to plotting the failed military coup aimed at ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported Monday. The report said Ozturk confessed during an interrogation to planning putsch, which began on Friday night and claimed at least 265 lives before it was quashed by forces loyal to the government. Photos of Ozturk circulating in Turkish media appeared to show a number of injuries to his head and upper body, as he was shackled. Turkish prosecutors on Monday began questioning Ozturk along with 27 other generals suspected to have been involved in the attempted coup, Anadolu reported. The former air force commander has denied he was involved in the putsch, insisting he worked to quell the uprising in statements to Turkish media over the weekend. Ozturk, who led Turkey’s air force between 2013 and 2015 before retiring from the army last year, was the nation’s military attaché to Israel in the 1990s; he served in the Jewish state between 1996-1998. In the wake of the coup, Erdogan’s government moved swiftly to shore up its power and remove those perceived as enemies. Turkish media on Monday reported that the Interior Ministry fired nearly 9,000 police officers, bureaucrats and others, and detained thousands of suspected plotters. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced a total of 7,543 people had been detained since Friday, including 6,030 military personnel. The government alleged the coup conspirators were loyal to moderate US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan has often accused of trying to overthrow the government. Gulen, who lives in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, is a former Erdogan ally turned bitter foe who has been put on trial in absentia in Turkey, where the government has labeled his movement a terrorist organization. He strongly denies the government’s charges. Kerry said the United States would entertain an extradition request for Gulen, but Turkey would have to present “legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny.” So far, officials have not offered evidence he was involved. Yildirim said those involved with the failed coup “will receive every punishment they deserve.” Erdogan suggested that Turkey might reinstate capital punishment, which was abolished in 2004 as part of the country’s bid to join the European Union. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said Monday that Turkey reinstating the death penalty would mean the end of negotiations for the country to join the EU.
One of the most senior military figures detained on charges of involvement in Turkey’s failed coup bid appears in court Monday and denies he was the mastermind of the plot. Looking tired and haggard with his ear bandaged in images published by state media, former air force chief General Akin Ozturk appears before the criminal court in Ankara. In his statement to prosecutors, Akin denies he was the ringleader of the coup, whose identity remains unclear. “I am not the person who planned or led the coup. Who planned it and directed it, I do not know,” Anadolu quotes him as saying. Some state-linked Turkish media had earlier quoted him as confessing to have played a prime role in the coup, but later replaced this information with his denial. The court is to decide if he and 26 other generals and admirals should be remanded in custody ahead of trial, the state-run Anadolu news agency reports. They are accused of trying to overthrow the existing order and also of plotting to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #8 And the prize, IMO, goes to Mullah Richard! |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2016-07-19 14:40 |
| #7 Is it safe? |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2016-07-19 13:20 |
| #6 Reliable sources are extremely valuable. Unreliable sources have value as well. Nearly all tips and confessions produced through interrogations can be beneficial. So called 'single source' intelligence must be corroborated. If found to be inaccurate, then the process of truth acquisition becomes more narrowly focused. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-07-19 12:10 |
| #5 Was he waterboarded? I'm told those confessions are unreliable. |
| Posted by: regular joe 2016-07-19 11:51 |
| #4 Just like Kamenev and Zinoviev were definitely plotting against Stalin. |
| Posted by: charger 2016-07-19 11:46 |
| #3 Just to being on a grassy knoll in Dallas. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2016-07-19 10:13 |
| #2 Did he admit to assassinating Julius Caesar yet? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2016-07-19 05:15 |
| #1 Goodbye turkish airforce chier |
| Posted by: chris 2016-07-19 01:11 |