Retired Admiral Türker Ertürk asserted that the government did not deliberately hinder the events of 15 July. During his appearance on Sözcü TV, Ertürk clarified that Tayyip Erdoğan’s statement, “I learned about the coup attempt from my brother-in-law,” lacks credibility.
According to Ertürk, “On 15 July, I could have thwarted the coup attempt with the orders I would have given. However, the coup attempt on 15 July was not averted. It could have been prevented. Mr. Erdoğan stated, ‘I learned about the coup attempt from my brother-in-law.’ I disagree because it implies that Hulusi Akar and Hakan Fidan did not report it to me. Did you dismiss or prosecute them? No, you didn’t. That means they remained loyal to you. So, why was there a need for this attempt? It was because an extralegal period was necessary to eliminate them. This could not have been achieved through regular legal procedures and democratic means.”
BY THE GRACE OF GOD!
AKP President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also described 15 July as “a grace of God” in his post-15 July statement and claimed that they “purged” the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) through it.
IF WE HAD ATTEMPTED NORMAL DISMISSALS, IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN UNTIL 2030
Another prominent AKP official, Numan Kurtulmuş, remarked, “If we had tried to dismiss them through regular procedures, we would not have been able to remove them from public service until 2020 or even 2030. The state took such an urgent and extraordinary measure to protect itself.”
BOZDAĞ: NO CRIME, ADMINISTRATIVE DISPOSAL!
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ previously admitted in a television program that those who were expelled through unlawful decrees (KHK) were not necessarily guilty, and these dismissals were an administrative measure rather than a legal one. According to Bozdağ’s statement, tens of thousands of individuals were dismissed without distinguishing between “guilty” and “innocent.”
