Akar had said 'we asked again and again': Report on Ergenekon and conspiracy cases reportedly came from General Staff headquarters

Sözcü columnist Aytunç Erkin drew attention to a 43-page report prepared after the coup attempt, contradicting the statements of AKP MP Hulusi Akar, who was the Chief of General Staff during the July 15 coup attempt, regarding the "Ergenekon and conspiracy cases": "There were officers and generals we worked closely with around us. We sensed some differences in their attitudes. We asked the intelligence units again and again. The answer we received was 'There is no record'."

Erkin recounted the events following the coup as follows:

"The end of the night of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt and the following morning. The offices of Brigadier General Mehmet Partigöç, one of the key figures of the coup and Head of the General Staff Personnel Planning and Management Department, and Staff Colonel Cemil Turhan, General-Admiral Branch Manager of the General Staff, are searched that morning. A blue folder, a red file, a black cardboard box, and a yellow envelope are taken out of the drawers... The documents inside these are sent to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office by General Staff Intelligence. They examine the profiling and reports. To avoid making mistakes regarding military procedures, they apply to the General Staff. The headquarters forms an Expert Committee consisting of Brigadier General Nerim Bitlislioğlu, Colonel Orhan Gürdal, and Colonel Oğuz Okuyucu. Brigadier General Nerim Bitlislioğlu, who heads the Expert Committee, and his team meticulously examine the 'blue, red, black, and yellow' files and prepare a 43-page report on March 6, 2017. This expert report becomes one of the most important pieces of evidence in the FETÖ military coup trials held across Turkey. The details of the documents that came out of those colored files reveal how the coup attempt was reached."

Erkin recalled the following statements by Hulusi Akar:

"For the first time, ranked officers began to arrive at the military prison. With the help of our commanders, we removed the practice of making them wear black uniforms as much as possible. Whatever needed to be done within the framework of the law was done. The process was continuing in a legal sense. Since we became the Land Forces Commander, we had said, 'We will perform our duty within the framework of the law and transparently everywhere we go across Turkey.' There were officers and generals we worked closely with around us. We sensed some differences in their attitudes. We asked the intelligence units again and again. The answer we received was 'There is no record'."

Erkin wrote, "Now, as Hulusi Akar says: 'We asked the intelligence units again and again. The answer we received was that there is no record.' However, according to the 'notes' that came out of the General Staff headquarters, 'intelligence' had arrived."

News Source: 12punto