New claim regarding Adil Öksüz, a key figure of July 15

Former staff colonel Ramazan Gözel, who served as Hulusi Akar's chief of staff during both his tenure as Land Forces Commander and Chief of General Staff and was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment in the July 15 coup trial, alleged that S.Ü., the then-head of an MİT department—who was among the individuals Akar spoke with on July 15 and who identified Akın Öztürk as the "number 1" of the coup before even going to Akıncı Air Base—was a friend of the brother of Adil Öksüz, the lead figure of the coup attempt. While explaining that Semih Terzi, who was killed by Ömer Halisdemir upon the orders of the then-Special Forces Commander Zekai Aksakallı, had sent a document to Akar regarding Syria and Aksakallı shortly before July 15, but that he himself could not present it to Akar, Gözel stated, "Semih Terzi was a general whom Hulusi Akar also loved and trusted," and requested that this document be retrieved and that Akar's personal mobile phone and two iPads be examined.

Fourteen defendants, who were tried in the General Staff Roof Case and sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment on the grounds that they were members of the so-called Peace at Home Council, which is said to have planned the July 15 coup attempt, but whose files were separated regarding the charges of injury on July 15 after it was understood they were not council members, made interesting claims as their "final words" at the hearing on Friday when the verdicts were announced.

NO INSULT TO THE TERRORIST LEADER

Former brigadier general Ahmet Bican Kırker, who participated in the hearing held by the Ankara 17th High Criminal Court at the Sincan Prison complex via SEGBİS and was acquitted in this case, criticized Erdoğan, prompting the presiding judge to intervene and warn him to state his final words and finish. When Kırker continued his criticisms, the judge cut off his final words, saying, "We can no longer listen to your insults. You are saying whatever comes to your mouth. The President is not a complainant in this case." Kırker replied, "You cannot tolerate anything. You might as well not be a member of the Court of Cassation. Hulusi Akar, Hakan Fidan, Yaşar Güler, and Zekai Aksakallı, who were kept away from the court, are acting in the 'Century-Old Night' documentary. They are not ashamed."

Another individual who was acquitted, former presidential chief aide Ali Yazıcı, claimed that although it was understood he was not a council member, he was still being accused with the same slanders as on the first day and that he and his family were being persecuted. He then brought up the PKK resolution process and said, "Did the 'esteemed founding leader' become a public official? So that I don't insult him accordingly." After the court president replied, "You cannot insult anyone, whether they are a public official or not," he said the following:

"I wasn't going to anyway. The terrorist leader, the baby killer, became the 'founding leader.' I served in the East for 6 years. They said, 'You are a hero.' I motivated my soldiers with martyrdom. They didn't die that day, but they died today. Someone needs to decide; I gave martyrs for 6 years. Was I the one who did wrong? Of course, since I am a terrorist, Mr. Öcalan should be outside. There are PKK members in prison who say, 'I killed many police and soldiers, I will kill again when I get out.' So, the situation is not as it is described on TV."

While addressing Erdoğan once again, Ali Yazıcı said, "I acted like a man; I didn't tell your private or official business. I expect manliness from you too. I know you are a man; show your manliness."

Another defendant who criticized the PKK resolution process was former brigadier general Murat Aygün. Aygün said, "This system tells a terrorist organization that killed 50 thousand people and caused 500 thousand of our people to become veterans, 'You are no longer a terrorist.' But it continues to tell us, 'You killed 250 people, you injured 3 thousand people; you are a terrorist.' I do not accept this."

One of the defendants, former staff colonel Doğan Öztürk, stated that he learned he was a member of the so-called Peace at Home Council (YSK) from the newspapers and requested that the YSK not be avoided in discussions, asking for a clear decision to be made, saying "it exists" if it does, and "it does not" if it doesn't. Meanwhile, former lieutenant colonel Ertuğrul Terzi claimed that Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, who reopened cold case files, signaled that when the day comes, the MİT, December 17/25, and coup cases will also be reopened.

"IF WE ARE TERRORISTS, WHY IS NO ONE MEETING WITH US?"

Former staff colonel Ramazan Gözel, who served as Hulusi Akar's chief of staff and was acquitted in this case, stated that the history of these days will be rewritten and that he would therefore keep his "final words" a bit long. He first reacted to the PKK resolution process as follows:

"They called us 'terrorists.' On the other hand, in the fight against real terrorism, which has been the country's biggest problem for 40 years and for which thousands of martyrs and veterans have been given, the organization became a 'hero' and its leader became the 'esteemed founder.' Could there be a greater deviation than this? This shame is enough for those who did this, those who supported it, and those who did not speak out. You say 'a Turkey without terror,' and you call me a 'terrorist,' but no one is meeting with us. Either you don't even believe yourselves when you call us 'terrorists,' or you are admitting that the process you started is not aimed at a Turkey without terror. If the goal were truly a Turkey without terror, the framework law would not be aimed only at the PKK. The goal is clear; in the last election, nationalist votes were needed, in this election, Kurdish votes. In the next election, the community (cemaat) will be needed, and then it will be, 'Hulusi Akar and Hakan Fidan deceived us on July 15.'"

"IS THERE AN AKAR-COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIP?"

After stating that he was tried with around 3 thousand aggravated life sentences on the allegation of non-existent council membership, and that at the point reached after 10 years, even the request for his acquittal in this case by saying, "There is no council, you are not an administrator," is one of the greatest indicators that the July 15 trials are not legal, Gözel said the following:

"For 10 years, I only wanted the truths of July 15 to come to light. I also told what I knew and saw regarding July 15 and Hulusi Akar. Many things have come to light, but the official narrative is still accepted. Let's accept that the official narrative is correct, that July 15 is as you describe; then why are you afraid of these people speaking, why are you not investigating the issues raised by the defendants, why are you not taking their demands into account? You may not be able to send bureaucrats like Hakan Fidan; but why did you not allow, and why do you not allow, soldiers like Hulusi Akar, Yaşar Güler, and Zekai Aksakallı to come to court? If the defendants' allegations are not true, come and say 'it's a lie' and prove it. Let's accept that what you say is true; if what happened was a coup attempt, if you had the intention to prevent it, you would have. Why didn't you prevent it? The penalty for knowingly failing to prevent it is an aggravated life sentence. Again, let's accept that the criminals are inside; is there no one with any negligence or fault in this incident, is there no soldier or bureaucrat at any level who has no shortcomings? How can excuses like 'we were deceived, we didn't see, we didn't know, we didn't understand' be a justification? Yes, if you want to understand July 15; first, you need to understand Hulusi Akar, Yaşar Güler, Hakan Fidan, and the relationship between them. You need to understand the relationship between people like Zekai Aksakallı and S.Ü. at a lower level, and the relationship between Hulusi Akar and the segments he is in contact with in some way. Abdullah Gül, İsmail Kahraman, Ahmet Davutoğlu, Cavit Çağlar, etc. Hulusi Akar is at the center. Above him, it is enough to look at the confession of secret witness code-named Abdullah regarding the position of the very top of politics on July 15, 'We submitted to the President two weeks before July 15 that Hulusi Akar would stage a coup,' and the results of July 15. So, is there a Hulusi Akar-community relationship, and if so, what kind of relationship is it? These issues were discussed here. Who were the ones meeting with the community on behalf of Akar, what were their goals; it was not investigated. Hulusi Akar is someone who tries to appear as a community member to the community, a nationalist to the nationalists, a conservative to the conservatives, and a social democrat to the social democrats, and also distributes flowers to other groups. The only segment he couldn't please is the Ergenekon-Balyoz team. But the point reached is that Mehmet Ali Çelebi and Hulusi Akar are serving the country in the same party. This is the picture, and they call this politics."

Reminding that July 15 is called "America-NATO supported," Gözel stated that then Hulusi Akar's "love for Americans-NATO" should be looked at, and alleged that Akar ensured the destruction of evidence at the General Staff Headquarters, especially on the command floor, and that while administrative investigations were conducted in every unit, no investigation was conducted in the chief of staff's office.

THE ADİL ÖKSÜZ ENIGMA

Describing the "Century-Old Night" documentary, in which July 15 is told, as "propaganda made against the truth of July 15," Gözel listed the contradictions there and made the following claims:

"Adil Öksüz is in the lead role. It is interesting that Yavuz Bingöl plays him, as they usually choose the worst characters. This means; the subject is going through Adil Öksüz, they have put him in the center, and they have brought other civilians next to him to the fore. In other words, it is seen that a civilian team led by Adil Öksüz managed July 15 and that they gave the instructions. This is the point reached after 10 years. If this is true, why were these civilians not accused of non-existent council membership? Let's say there is no council; you called 17 people 'administrators,' why are they not among them? Let's say that didn't happen, why didn't you include them in the roof case? Let's say they are not there either, why are they not in this file? Shouldn't they have been responsible for all the events in Turkey? In the series, events do not go according to the coup plan; despite so many negatives, Adil Öksüz smiles and says, 'Everything went as planned.' We understand better now whose plan was being implemented. How Adil Öksüz was protected and disappeared on July 15 remained a secret. Cold cases were solved, but this could not be. But for some reason, it is not mentioned that KİP Hasan, who was in constant contact with Hulusi Akar and even had the courage to meet at the Force Headquarters, was in a position above Adil Öksüz in the community, that Öksüz had been followed by MİT through Kemalettin Özdemir for 5 years and had some contact with MİT, and that S.Ü., a retired colonel and MİT member, whom Hulusi Akar—one of the key figures of July 15—was in close contact with, and who met with force commanders, army commanders, the top brass of the TSK, and general and special headquarters personnel on July 15 instead of where he should have been, was a friend of Adil Öksüz's brother."

WHAT DID SEMİH TERZİ SEND TO AKAR?

Pointing out that Semih Terzi, who was shot by Ömer Halisdemir upon the orders of the then-Special Forces Commander Zekai Aksakallı, was shown in the "Century-Old Night" as if he had been shot in the forehead, and that it turned out this was not the case in reality, Gözel said, "The order given by Aksakallı is unlawful and its only purpose is to prevent Terzi from speaking," while voicing a new claim for the first time.

After explaining that Hulusi Akar, contrary to military traditions, met with military personnel of a much lower rank and position than himself without the knowledge of their superiors, and received notes and files from them, Gözel said the following:

"I hadn't told this before, but there is a burden on me, and I made this introduction to get rid of it. In this activity, our duty is to convey what comes. Who it came from, what came; we don't question it. There is no such thing as not presenting what comes. Already, the sender has contact with Hulusi Akar; he would definitely hear if we didn't present it, and if he heard, he wouldn't let us live. An exception to this, for me, was shortly before July 15. General Semih Terzi sent me a document in an envelope to be presented to Hulusi Akar. Terzi had served as chief of staff for Işık Koşaner in both the Land Forces and the General Staff, and he is someone who knows how things work on the command floor. He is a successful general whom Hulusi Akar also loved and trusted. There is no one who does not love, respect, or appreciate him, except for Zekai Aksakallı. Since he was able to send an envelope to be presented to Akar, there is a special relationship between them. The envelope sent by Semih Terzi was open. The agenda was very busy, Akar was very busy. Partly with the instinct to protect him, I looked at it to see if it was urgent or not. I am afraid of telling things I don't remember exactly as if they existed, but what I can remember is that there were evaluations and proposals regarding Syria in the document. Semih Terzi had prepared a report, he was not sending it through the normal chain of command, that is, he was not presenting it to his superior Zekai Aksakallı, because Aksakallı has illegal, unlawful activities. Now why am I telling this; I should have presented that document to Hulusi Akar, but I couldn't present it due to the intensity, and the feeling of not having done my duty was bothering me. Since Semih Terzi is also not alive and there is no possibility of making peace, I wanted to at least express this here and relieve my conscience. I have no other purpose."

Continuing, he made the following demands as his "final words":

"After July 15, this file was in my office. But Hulusi Akar did not want this and similar documents to come to light. While very secret documents in the Operations Center were made public in the evidence file, documents belonging to Hulusi Akar's shady business; important documents such as the program change on July 15 and the people he met during the week of July 15 did not enter the files. It appears that an office search was conducted, but the video recording was not provided despite our persistent requests. Hulusi Akar had a mobile phone and two iPads for personal use. One of the iPads was open to the internet, and the other was closed, an iPad with military information at a classification level. Digital examination of the mobile phone and iPads was not conducted. Whatever kind of criminal I am; in my application to the court, appellate court, Court of Cassation, and the Constitutional Court at every stage, I say, 'You have done an incomplete examination. Search my office well, examine the electronic materials well.' I have nothing to fear. They cannot find a single document, not even a line, against me regarding July 15, but it is not like that for Hulusi Akar. Therefore, as a final word, in order for the material truth to come to light, I request that the file sent by Semih Terzi and other documents be requested from the General Staff, and that Akar's personal mobile phone and two iPads be examined. I think that information regarding who Hulusi Akar met with domestically/internationally before and on July 15, or at least information regarding the plans/orders of July 15, could be found."

Müyesser YILDIZ

September 28, 2026