The return of Zekai Pasha, a critical figure of July 15

Even though 9 years have passed, I believe most of us remember Zekai Aksakallı, who was the Special Forces Commander (ÖKK) during the July 15 coup attempt.

His most significant action that night was giving the order to his aide, Staff Sergeant Ömer Halisdemir, to kill Brigadier General Semih Terzi, who was alleged to be among the coup plotters and to have come from Silopi to Ankara to take over the Special Forces Command headquarters. Halisdemir carried out this order, but unfortunately, he was also martyred.

Aksakallı was a commander known to everyone by then. At the Supreme Military Council meeting held 13 days after July 15, he was promoted to lieutenant general, even though he still had 1 year left before his mandatory waiting period for the rank was over.

Immediately afterward, he commanded the Euphrates Shield Operation, which was organized to retake Jarabulus and al-Bab from ISIS alongside the Free Syrian Army.

However, just 1 year later, something unexpected happened; he was removed from the Special Forces Command and made the 2nd Corps Commander. In 2020, he was retired on the grounds of lack of a vacant position.

WHY DID HE FALL FROM GRACE?

Let us list the events that led to this surprise ending for Aksakallı.

First; in his testimony to the Malatya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding the night of July 15, the then-2nd Army Commander İsmail Metin Temel recounted the following about Zekai Aksakallı:

“Zekai Aksakallı called me and said, ‘The headquarters has been occupied, I am at home.’ When I said, ‘Return to the headquarters,’ he replied, ‘I am calming my wife down.’”

These words, in the words of Abdülkadir Selvi, shook the portrait of the “heroic Aksakallı” that had been formed up to that moment!..

Although Aksakallı later made various statements regarding the conversation he had with İsmail Metin Temel, it was a fact that he watched and managed the clashes at the Special Forces Command from a hidden address and only went to the headquarters at 10:00 the next morning.

Second; during the Euphrates Shield Operation, images of Aksakallı taking cover behind a rock and watching from a balcony with binoculars caused discomfort in both the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and politics. It was understood that there was a coordination problem in the operation. In the end, Erdoğan resolved the issue by appointing a coordinator general.

Third; Zekai Aksakallı, like Hulusi Akar and Yaşar Güler, preferred to testify in a private session rather than participating in coup trials as a complainant or witness and answering questions from defendants and lawyers. In that testimony, which he gave in only one of the four divided Special Forces Command cases, he emphasized the following:

“In the TSK, in crises and extraordinary situations, as soon as the first news is received, the order ‘Personnel shall not leave the barracks’ is given. Unit commanders continue their work in their barracks. This basic and simple rule, which is always applied, was not applied when the first news was received on July 15, 2016. If it had been applied, the coup attempt would have been exposed from the beginning.”

The target of these words was none other than the then-Chief of General Staff, General Hulusi Akar. Indeed, his removal from the Special Forces Command and appointment as 2nd Corps Commander was linked to this.

HAS HE BEEN APPOINTED TO HEAD OYAK?

Regarding Zekai Aksakallı, who was retired 5 years ago due to a lack of a vacant position, various claims were made during this process, such as “He is about to head SADAT,” or “He is becoming an advisor to the Palace”; however, none of them turned out to be true.

Now, a new claim is on the agenda. It is reported that Aksakallı has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Armed Forces Assistance and Pension Fund (OYAK) and will begin his duties within a few days.

If true, it is an interesting choice for OYAK, which operates in many sectors from mining-metallurgy to cement, concrete, and paper, from automotive to logistics, from chemistry-agriculture to energy, and from finance to food, with over 130 companies and more than 38 thousand employees.

Specifically; retired Major General Mehmet Taş has been serving as the Chairman of the OYAK Board of Directors since 2016. Taş continued his duty after the 65th General Assembly meeting held on May 17.

There must be an important reason for this change 1.5 months later.

Considering that almost the entire management of OYAK, which operates under the Ministry of National Defense, is determined by the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff; there are those who interpret the choice of Zekai Aksakallı as a move by Minister Yaşar Güler against Hulusi Akar, who is rumored to want to be a minister again, and those who say, “Aksakallı is being rehabilitated 5 years later!”

Müyesser YILDIZ

June 30, 2025