A Hulusi Akar Classic: First Ordered Everybody to Come to Duty, Then Got Them Arrested

Every Chief of the General Staff has a quality that has gone down in history. Hulusi Akar?

The Turkish public has witnessed very important events in the last 20 years. One of the most important issues in this sequence of events has been military-civilian relations. In this context, chiefs of general staff have been important actors of the agenda. For example, we remember Hilmi Özkök with his democratic personality and bringing a lunch bowl from his house for security purposes, Yaşar Büyükanıt with the 27 April e-memorandum and the Dolmabahçe meeting and İlker Başbuğ with his activities within the scope of the Ergenekon organization.

However, there is a name that will never be forgotten after his treachery and betrayal of his comrades on July 15, and that is Hulusi Akar. Based on concrete information, we share with you the trap that Hulusi Akar set for Forensic Advisor Brigadier General Hayrettin Kaldirimci and his staff, which is an example of one of the many betrayals he caused by not taking care of his comrades in arms even though he witnessed the truth.

Hulusi Akar: "Let the Forensic Advisor (Hayrettin Kaldirimci) come here."

İzzet Çetingöz, who testified at the Turkish Military Academy trial, shared with the court information he obtained from Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu, who was then Major General. This information gave clues about the trap that had been set. Before moving on to the relevant part of the statement, let us remind you that Major General İzzet Çetingöz and Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu, who were recently promoted to the rank of full general, were among the respected names of the Erdoğan regime, who viewed the foreign duties of the TAF personnel as unnecessary and corrupt, and wrote the articles that hundreds of qualified officers should be expelled just because they were selected for duty/training abroad.

In his statement, İzzet Çetingöz said, “…I was chairing the final decision board that examined the negative decisions of the student admissions interview commissions during the daytime on 15.07.2016. At around 20.30, we had completed the transactions related to this commission on a daily basis. Later on, 3rd Army Chief of Staff Major General Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu called me on the phone. He conveyed his request for a meeting for visiting purposes. I accepted. 10-15 minutes later he came to the garden where I was. We sat there and drank tea. Selçuk told me that he was at the General Staff in the afternoon and that Hulusi Akar wanted the legal counsel, the central commander and the land aviation commander with him. He stated that he heard this from the phone conversation in his environment.”

However, Former Legal Counsel Brigadier General Hayrettin Kaldirimci states that Full General İhsan Uyar conveyed the instruction of Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar, "Tell Hayrettin to have the military prosecutor present, to keep in touch with the central command," and that's why he had been working overtime. The delegation sent by Hulusi Akar to the Army Aviation School for examination confirms this.

Does Working Overtime by Hulusi Akar's Order Require Life Imprisonment?

Hayrettin Kaldirimci and his staff, Mehmet Oğuz Akkuş, who came to work, did nothing but sit in the office of Lieutenant General İlhan Talu and then in the office of Brigadier General Uğur Şahin until 01:00. They did not even imply, let alone use weapons, convey a coup notice or carry out an act that could be considered threat-violence. However, despite this, Forensic Advisor Brigadier General Hayrettin Kaldirimci and Director of Criminal Legal Affairs Branch Judge Colonel Mehmet Oğuz Akkuş were sentenced to life imprisonment for only working overtime.

If even an ordinary citizen is asked, he will say that there is nothing more natural than the presence of the judicial consultancy personnel and the military prosecutor when there are many judicial cases and there are events involving military personnel. However, even in this event, they managed to pull out a coup and a putschist.

Using his power and status in command, Hulusi Akar summoned the personnel to the place of duty and led them get arrested of in the morning. Maybe he was calling Hakan Fidan with a plate of nuts and "blonde roast" filter coffee in front of him while his comrades were being tortured at the hands of those who had lost their humanity, and he was talking about his betrayal.