News & Comment
Is it a Research Commission? Or is it a Blackout Commission? It's not certain!

News:

Turkey’s Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar, in a written statement sent to the Parliamentary Coup Research Commission, said, "We think that the report to MIT was part of a great plan." (Source: haberler.com)

Comment:

The Coup Research Commission in Turkey announced its report on 26 May 2017. However, as soon as the Commission's report appeared, many questions were addressed because the reported report did not answer any unknown questions in the public opinion, but it also produced new questions. In addition, The Undersecretary of MIT, Hakan Fidan, and Chief of General Staff, Hulusi Akar, did not testify to the Commission and gave the perception that the report was a blackout as soon as the report came out.

First of all, the first blackout was because of the late establishment of the Commission; the stall of AK party in the declaration of the members and the fact that everyone who was selected as members – the chairman, the vice chairman, the spokesman, the secretary – were from the ruling party. In particular, the fact that not one dark spot of 15th of July was not enlightened indicates that the Research Commission was established to distract and mislead the public and further darkens the dark spots.

The Statement of the Major that Denounced the Coup

Yeni Safak Newspaper announcement on 20 May 2017 – by putting a headline like "Here is the expression of that major" – shows that O.K. has clearly denounced the coup.

O.K. in his statement to the prosecutor in August 2016 said: "They asked me what would happen in MIT and I told them there might be a big activity, even a coup activity. I have said that this activity is not a good intentional activity according to what they said 'a lot of blood will be shed'. It is even written that they may have a great deal of cleanliness against FETO in the decisions of YAŞ. For this reason, I said that there may be a coup activity before YAŞ."

There was this information in the statement given to the prosecutor. However, Yeni Şafak did not mention the coup in the news.

On the May 29, 2017, a phrase of the major’s statement leaked to the Hürriyet newspaper that was not included in the news of Yeni Şafak. According to this, Major O.K., in his statement said, "I remember very well that I used the word 'there could be a coup'."

After this news had been spread, MIT and the General Staff sent their statements in writing to the Commission. However, again very great contradictions and questions came out.

Unanswered Questions

O.K. who denounced the coup has said: "there could be a coup". The MIT also sent a report to the Commission saying that "they did know that there would be a coup attempt by FETÖ but they said they did not know the date." And the Chief of the General Staff said: "In the intelligence from the MIT, there wasn’t a matter of a coup but there was an alleged operation against the MIT Undersecretary.”

In other words, the three statements are contradictory. But there is one thing that is certain: "Before the coup attempt, MIT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan and the Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar had a one on one meeting."

So, then:

1-  If the two had already learned that a coup attempt was to be made that night, the denouncer O.K. says that he told them. So why did not these important duos (MIT and the Chief of General Staff) give orders and instructions to prevent the coup?

2-  How can the Chief of General Staff still not mention they didn’t receive anything about a coup? Or else has the MIT Undersecretary also not inform the Chief of General Staff about the “coup attempt news” as he did not inform the President Erdoğan? So how can Hakan Fidan still serve as a MIT Undersecretary?

3-  What does the Coup Research Commission hide from the people whom it stated that it prevented the coup attempt?

There will always be suspicion in the society unless it is clearly revealed with clear evidences of what happened on July 15 and of who are the real agents behind the coup attempt. But it seems that the state has taken a decision to give the people the feeling that that night there wasn’t a "coup denouncement". Or how else will he explain the 250 people who lost their lives!

 Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Osman Yıldız