Sofokleousin.gr – Jul 18, 2016

At 23.00 on Friday 15 July 2016, part of the Turkish army staged a coup against Turkey’s most controversial figure, the man who managed to transform a weak country under the influence of generals controlled by foreign powers into a strong country militarily, economically and politically at a regional and international level, in a country driven by its own interests, with a state leadership supported by the Turkish people willing to sacrifice for its survival: AKP’s Turkey.

The sequence of the events of the coup

At 23:00, the streets in Istanbul and Ankara were closed by tanks and soldiers deployed not only in them but also in the cities of Antakya, Izmir, Antalya, Adana. At exactly midnight, a military group of putschists stormed the Turkish state television channel TRT in Ankara, controlling it and issued the first announcement of the coup which stated:

• The Turkish army stage a coup against the Turkish government and its President.
• The country is under martial law.
• A Peace Council will be formed to govern the country composed of army officers.
• Traffic is prohibited throughout the Turkish territory.

At 00.30, Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan’s order to security and police officers was: ‘Fight to death’. A few minutes later, Turkish President Erdoğan appears on a private Turkish channel via video call, confirming that he is fine, that what is happening is a coup by a small part of the army, and asks the Turkish people to take to the streets, squares and airports to resist.

It didn’t take long from Erdoğan’s communication for thousands of people to come out filling the squares and expel the coup plotters from Atatürk Airport. The situation, after that, began to turn gradually in favor of the legitimate government. Meanwhile, battles were being fought in the air and on the ground.

A real war was taking place in Ankara, which was not covered by the mass media. At this critical moment, the commander of the 1st Army Salih Zeki Çolak announced that this military coup does not include the entire army and that he and his soldiers will remain in the service of the legitimate government. This statement gave a great impetus to the Turkish people and the Erdoğan government. At 05.00, after the longest night for modern Turkey and Erdoğan’s life, he appeared at Atatürk Airport making a statement to the media, confirming that the coup had failed and asking the Turkish people to stay in the streets and squares.

Despite all the details I have mentioned and we all watched in the media, there are still aspects of the events that have not been publicized or have not been highlighted. I will mention a few of them, while many others will be revealed in the coming days. Finally, I will try to answer the question everyone has in their mind and is wondering: Was this coup made by Erdoğan and his government or was it a real coup that is backed by international powers?

Uknown details of the coup timeline

17.00 on July 15. Special Military Forces of the putschists invaded the Army General Staff building and arrested the Chief Hulusi Akar, cutting off all contact with him.

19.00 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was was in a hotel in Marmaris area for the weekend. He received a phone call from security chief Hakan Fidan, who informed him that he had lost contact with the Chief of Staff and asked him to move to another location. At the same time, Hakan Fidan ordered that communications in Marmaris be cut off for two hours.

19.30 Three helicopters land near President Erdoğan’s hotel and their crews clash with his security. Just a few minutes before, Erdoğan was already gone. The attack failed, one of the helicopters was downed and all the passengers were killed (the pilot of this helicopter was the same pilot who downed the Russian aircraft in November 2015, which caused the severance of relations between the two countries and who was a member of the Fethullah Gülen American-backed movement). The second helicopter was the one that sought asylum in Greece and the third is still missing.

20.00 Eight military transport aircraft and two Boeing RC-135 aircraft used for refueling, land at Malatya airport, which they now control.

21.30 The coup begins. The first military movements in Ankara and Istanbul begin.

22.00 Orders arrive from the coup leaders to the soldiers to shoot and kill any police or security personnel who try to stop them.

00.00 A helicopter participating in the coup attacks the security building in Ankara, where Hakan Fidan was at that time. It bombed once. Immediately an F-16 downed it and Hakan Fidan was flown to Istanbul.

00:30 The US Embassy in Ankara issues an Emergency Message for US citizens, characterizing the coup as a ‘Turkish Uprising’. With this message, it informed the American citizens in Turkey that a military law and a curfew have been enforce in the country, and gave instructions for their safety.

The time of the coup was planned to be 03.00 at night and to be announced in the morning. the information that the head of security has discovered that the Chief of Staff has disappeared, forced them to act sooner.

The death toll so far is higher than has been reported. According to my sources, more than 300 civilians and 400 military are dead, with a large number of undisclosed security casualties and about 3,000 wounded.

12.00 on July 16. A special force of Turkish security under the command of the chief Hakan Fidan arrested the military head of Hatay Province. He was immediately transferred to Istanbul and began to be interrogated. From my sources I know that he acknowledge that three months ago secret meetings were held between the officers who organized the coup in the Incirlik NATO Air Force Base with the presence of officers in the US Armed Forces who trained and guided the pilots who bombed Ankara and attacked the hotel where Erdoğan was staying. He also said there was a list of 80 people from politicians and officers ready to rule the country. Information on the place where Erdoğan was located was given by his military secretary who was one of the members of the coup and was arrested the following day.

I know from my sources that he admitted that three months ago secret meetings began between the officers who organized the coup inside the Incirlik NATO air base in the presence of officers belonging to the American armed forces and who trained and instructed the pilots who bombed Ankara and attacked the hotel where Erdoğan was staying. He also said that there is a list of 80 people from politicians and officers, ready to rule the country. The information about Erdoğan’s whereabouts was given by his secretary for military affairs who was one of the coup plotters and was arrested the next day.

International complications before the coup

During the months leading to the failed coup in Turkey, we witnessed a state of political tensions with other countries. Israeli-Turkish relations were strained until the week before the coup, when a comprehensive dispute settlement agreement was signed, but it did not ease the tension between them. Iranian-Turkish relations were at their worst. The Syrian crisis forms a large wall between the two countries, as Turkey supports the Syrian opposition and Iran defends and supports Assad. An agreement was reached between Turkey and the European Union to stop the flow of refugees, a good step forward in improving relations between Turkey and Europe, but this does not negate the fact that this relationship is still fragile, since the agreement is under study and is not literally applied  by the European side.

The breakdown of Russian-Turkish relations had reached its maximum, after the downing of the Russian aircraft in the northern part of Syria. Two weeks before the coup, the two sides began to approach one another. This approach was a shock to the American side. I have mentioned in my previous article, ‘Attack on Atatürk Airport … Between Secret Meetings and International Entagnlements‘, the details of what was going on under the table between Turks, Russians and Americans. If we go back a month, US Senator Richard Black said: ‘The Erdoğan-led Turkish government is very risky for the US. Erdoğan plans to create a new Ottoman empire. If there is a coup by the Turkish army, we will support it’. In general, Turkey under the Erdoğan governance is not liked in the West and if the coup was successful, we would not see any particular distress from Western leaders.

After the 15 July coup, nothing will be like before

It is naive that some Western politicians believe that Erdoğan himself may be behind the coup attempt. The number of generals who participated indicates the size of the operation. More than ten thousand soldiers, as well as a large air force participated in this process, and the life of the Turkish President was put in great risk. Those who watched Erdoğan’s speech the next morning and over the next two days realized that he still felt so threatened that he pleaded with the Turkish people to stay in the squares until he was sure that the coup attempt had been put down for good.

After all, the blow that does not kill you makes you stronger. Analyzing the data, I see that Turkey’s foreign and domestic policy will not remain the same. Moreover, I still believe that the danger to Erdoğan personally and his government is not over. Erdoğan knows with certainty who was behind the coup attempt, as he knows very well what to do. Closing the Incirlik base hours after the the announcement of the coup was his first reaction against the US leadership. In the coming days, we will witness more tensions between the two countries and we will also see changes in the Syrian field and the Turkish agreements with the European Union.