Key figure of July 15: 'If I explained how to assassinate the President, God forbid, you'd put me on trial for threats like Fatih Altaylı'

Report: Müyesser YILDIZ - 12punto

Former Brigadier General Mehmet Partigöç, whose signature is said to appear on the coup proclamation, said: "If I explained how to assassinate the President, God forbid, you'd put me on trial for threats on top of everything else, just like Fatih Altaylı." Partigöç, who is accused of appointing "FETÖ" members to critical posts, stated that those appointments were made not by him but by the Chief of General Staff and the Force Commanders. He also alleged that retired Admiral Cihat Yaycı — the inventor of the so-called "FETÖmetre" — had visited Fetullah Gülen in the United States and had even served as his English interpreter.

At today's hearing of the General Staff Umbrella Trial, retried by Ankara 17th Heavy Criminal Court in the courtroom at Sincan Prison Campus following the Court of Cassation's partial reversal ruling, Mehmet Partigöç completed the defence he had begun the previous day.

"Zekai Aksakallı CALLED SEMİH TERZİ IN MY PRESENCE"

Drawing attention to the fact that the indictment and rulings always say he "met with so-and-so" in relation to him, Partigöç said the following:

"What meetings? There are none. I entered the Security Officer's room. There are five rooms in that corridor. I go in every time I pass. Why is no one looking at whether I had entered before or not? True, Metin İyidil came to my room. Any lieutenant general entering that corridor would come to my room. Anyone coming to meet with the Deputy Chief would wait in my room. So why is no one talking about the fact that Zekai Aksakallı also came to my room that day, called the late Semih Terzi, and asked him to delete a private messaging application? Why is his phone not being examined? Whether such an application exists or not, no one has investigated. Setting up a covert civilian communications system outside the General Staff is a crime. Let at least one soul look into it. I'm supposedly the coup plotter, the FETÖ member, the one running everyone. Zekai Aksakallı came to my room every time he visited Headquarters. So I must be running Zekai Aksakallı too."

On the subject of the coup proclamation and appointment lists, Partigöç also said: "Has anyone even examined whether this document could have been prepared in the General-Admiral Branch? Has anyone asked those who know this business? I am a brigadier general, while the majority of names on the list are lieutenant generals. Would they listen to me?"

THE ABDUCTION OF THE MIT UNDERSECRETARY: "WHAT KIND OF FOOL AM I"

While noting that he is being tried over the alleged plan to abduct then-MİT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan, Partigöç recounted the following:

"I know him personally. He came that day too, we greeted each other. The man had come to the General Staff and was walking around. Everyone on the floor was supposedly a coup plotter, yet no one did anything. There is footage of that corridor. Fine, those images may not be brought in for privacy reasons; but let the court panel take a look. The man came, he was right there in front of me. What kind of fool am I — we don't detain him there, yet supposedly we land by helicopter with just a pilot and two technicians, without an operational team, at the most heavily guarded MİT compound. Let me also tell you this about MİT. They had posted a job advertisement for personnel recruitment. I took it to Yaşar Güler. I said, 'This advertisement is describing ÖKK personnel. What are they doing? We train them with great difficulty, and these people are going to take them.' He called MİT. The Personnel Chief came, and we said, 'Instead of poaching from us, tell us how many you need and we'll train them accordingly.' That incident turned into this: 'Partigöç is against MİT's personnel recruitment.' What does that have to do with anything? ÖKK reports to Yaşar Güler."

WHO MADE THE CRITICAL APPOINTMENTS?

After Mehmet Partigöç provided detailed information about the changes they had made to the education and examination system within the Turkish Armed Forces during his tenure, the Presiding Judge warned him: "Examination systems are not the subject of our case. Come to July 15." Partigöç responded as follows:

"But it is being said, 'They appointed their own people to critical positions.' So who makes the critical appointments? The Chief of General Staff and the Force Commanders. Has anyone asked any of them, 'Why did you appoint these people here?' Those who made the appointments, those who promoted them, are known. We, who handled the logistics and ran the errands, are guilty; they are innocent. You say 'Come to July 15.' I can come, but the issue is not the day of July 15. The whole world knows that what happened that day was staged. Very few people in this country did not benefit from the Fetullah Gülen community. Most of the politicians, those who are judging us, those who tortured us, benefited from it. The whole matter is either an arm-wrestling match, a prelude, or a contest between two different groups to outmanoeuvre each other; a group of Anatolian sons were crushed beneath them. Changes of regime and system have always come through major events. Some people wanted to change the regime in Turkey. It was not only those in power who wanted this — others did too. An incident was needed, a deadly incident was desired. What was wanted was not 250 deaths, but thousands. In which coup were 3,000 people sentenced to death? 40,000 people died in terrorism. How many people were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment? A new resolution process has begun. I hope it succeeds. Fetullah Gülen died. Had he lived, they would have invited him like Apo, calling him 'founding leader, opinion leader, great leader,' and they would have cherished the photograph of the deceased. This government or another government will also initiate a resolution process with the Fetullah Gülen community."

THE BLOCKING OF KURTOĞLU'S PROMOTION

Describing the İzmir Military Espionage entrapment case as "Actually, this case was not about espionage — 80 percent of it was immoral conduct," Partigöç emphasised that Yaşar Güler had said, "Son, go and explain this to the politicians. Have them watch this footage in particular."

While claiming that the Interior Ministry had blacklisted him three to four months before July 15, Partigöç also recounted the following:

"The Gendarmerie Law was going to be amended. It had nothing to do with me. The Deputy Chief wanted me to attend the meeting. I wish I hadn't gone. I was advocating that the Gendarmerie become a general directorate and eventually merge with the Police. They wanted to close the regional commands, which was wrong. Together with the Interior Ministry, we reported to the Presidency that this was not appropriate. It turned out that reporting upward was a mistake. At another meeting, I said, 'If you do it this way, the military will become politicised.' I wish my tongue had been cut out before I said that sentence. The Interior Minister said, 'What do you mean, is politics bad?' The current Deputy Commander of the Gendarmerie General Command, Hüseyin Kurtoğlu, also held me responsible for his promotion being blocked. It has nothing to do with me. His brother was dismissed from the Turkish Armed Forces for Nurculuk. They actually wanted to dismiss him too. The Gendarmerie General Command was not promoting him, and was shifting the blame onto the General Staff."

"THE PKK LAID DOWN ITS ARMS — WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO LAY DOWN?"

Noting that back then everyone was a Gülenist, everyone sent their children to their prep schools, and those who cursed them loudly had bought a waterfront mansion with a loan from their bank and then said "We cut our ties," Partigöç continued:

"If I had ties, by God, I would have cut them. When you have none, you can't cut ties. The PKK laid down its arms. What are we supposed to lay down? If we laid down our service weapons, they'd be confiscated. We don't even have a vote."

"SERVES Fatih Altaylı RIGHT"

Regarding the tip-off from MİT on July 15, Mehmet Partigöç directed the following question at Hulusi Akar: "Why, on that day, were you not calling Chief Aide-de-Camp Ali Yazıcı — our communication point with the Presidency — but instead calling the President's Head of Protection?" He then continued:

"If I explained how to assassinate the President, God forbid, you'd put me on trial for threats just like Fatih Altaylı. Well, they've locked up Fatih Altaylı, who called me a 'terrorist' after I served in the mountains for years — serves him right. There are a heap of Gülenists in the protection detail and at Headquarters — the pilot flying the plane was a Gülenist. You've never conducted an operation. You wait until he goes on holiday, then you try to carry out an assassination. These idiotic events are worse than 141 life sentences. Who are you going to do this with? With Gökhan Şahin Sönmezateş. Everyone knows him. The man was made a general in absentia. This job cannot be done with him alone. I won't say fool or idiot — he'll file a lawsuit. That night, shots were fired at the barracks. There are generals who didn't leave their rooms. If I had the authority, I would have dismissed them from the Turkish Armed Forces. Is that any way to be a soldier, a commander, a general? It means we, as an army, had drifted to a very different place. Yes, I went outside that day and ran toward where the gunfire was coming from. There were wounded; I called an ambulance. I also instructed the police officers, 'Don't let anything happen to you — get behind the vehicles.' When I realised events were different from what I thought, I stopped answering calls. If any were answered, it was my orderly NCO who answered them. It is being said, 'You sent Barış Avıalan to Akıncı, you coordinated the coup through him.' Just like Gökhan Şahin Sönmezateş, the last person you would use for this job was the late Barış Avıalan. Barış was a personnel officer, he graduated from the War Academy as a personnel officer. His only combat assignment was eight months with a unit — and that was in Thrace. I'm going to coordinate a coup through him? Am I really that much of a fool? You are insulting not only me but also the military education and doctrine system."

THE Cihat Yaycı ALLEGATION

After saying "Two years before July 15, everyone chose their side. Senior state figures also turned a blind eye, and the way was opened for the politicisation of the army. After July 15, a new breed of people emerged who wanted to hide their own connections and started going around with lists in hand," Partigöç made the following allegations:

"Take Admiral Cihat Yaycı. He was the one who visited Fetullah Gülen in the United States. It was even said that he served as his English interpreter. The documents relating to this were in my room. The one who drew up the lists is a Gülenist, because only Gülenists know other Gülenists. Why did Adem Huduti and İbrahim Yılmaz go to prison? So that İsmail Metin Temel could become Army Commander. I know very well why Adem Huduti is in prison, but if I say it, some senior state figures will be in trouble. The man is no FETÖ member or anything of the sort. Why did Şirin Ünal come to the General Staff with a list in hand that day? Why is no one asking?"

WHAT DID NURETTİN VEREN RECOUNT?

Partigöç repeated that the originator of the term "parallel structure" was Mehmet Dişli, adding: "Hulusi Pasha was very fond of Dişli. Like all words translated from English, he took a great liking to this one too." At that point, Dişli — connected via SEGBIS from Kandıra Prison — was seen laughing.

Finally, Mehmet Partigöç spoke about Nurettin Veren — a prominent figure in the Gülen community who was the first to go to the General Staff in 2006 and inform them about "FETÖ":

"Even though it is not directly related to July 15, I am disclosing this as a matter of duty, to answer the question 'What did you do when Nurettin Veren came?' He came to the door and said, 'I have information to share.' I was at the General Staff at that time too. He was met with, and the matter was coordinated with the political sphere. Nurettin Veren's concern was the upper structure of the community. There was most likely a dispute over spoils. We asked for the names of those at the lower levels; he refused to give them. He said, 'They are my children. They are clean; they will do whatever you say.' When he would not say anything about them, the matter was closed."

Partigöç concluded his defence by saying: "In the end, those who won, won; those who ate the bread, ate it. July 15 is over. The matter is closed. What happened, happened to the people of Anatolia. The only thing I can say is: let people come out now and speak the truth."