Aggravated Life Sentence with One Paragraph Text

I would like to draw your attention to a specific example of the thousands of legal massacres that took place after the July 15 theater played in Turkey and the civil coup of July 20 by RTE: the case of Staff Colonel Muzaffer Coban.

He is from Kayseri just like Hulusi Akar and Abidin Ünal, but he is not as lucky as them. Actually, I shouldn't say that. It should be said that they are not cunning and manipulative like them. Contrary to them, it should be said that he is too characterful and honorable not to resort to such ways.

Why would he do them? He is a talented staff officer who has graduated from all the schools he attended (Kuleli Military High School, Military Academy, Armored Units School, Army War Academy and US Naval Postgraduate School) with honors and has international education. He is an Anatolian child who has achieved with hard work what the other two have achieved with greed, passion and plots. Maybe this is why, while the front of the other two was turned into a highway with a "grace of God (!) coup", this poor homeland son was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment with only one paragraph text. Not a second paragraph was needed while his life and that of his entire family were darkened. In his statement, he "could not find anything in this one paragraph about what he was accused of and on what evidence he was accused".

Maybe he was placed on the target board by someone, because he had performed very critical missions, he had seen a lot. How? He served in the General and Admiral Branch for many years. Those who know will know that this branch is the most private place of the whole Turkish Armed Forces. The personal files and special situations of all generals and admirals, including the Chief of the General Staff, are followed by this branch. All these works are officially in the field of duty of this branch. They also organize Annual Military Council (AGE) meetings. They make preliminary preparations and studies on issues such as who will be promoted and who will be retired.

Hulusi Akar and Yaşar Güler Have Signatures on the High Military Council Decisions

Colonel Muzaffer Çoban, who knows all these High Military Council meetings very well, says the following in the court:

“Now, on page 430 of the indictment, it says that the majority of the general admirals promoted in 2011 and after are claimed to be members of F..O. Officially, this is already there, we see that it is written in all of them. It is now officially clear who attends these meetings. It is clear who will be promoted at the meetings and by what votes they are promoted. Those who approve the appointment decisions after promotion are also clear. To give an example, Hulusi Akar, the Second Chief of General Staff at the time, was Secretary General of High Military Council in 2012 and 2013. The Secretary General of the High Council is fully responsible for the execution of the meeting. This person is responsible for conducting the surveys and running the process. Hulusi Akar also attended the next High Council meetings as the Land Forces Commander.

When we come to the meetings in 2014 and 2015, the Secretary General was the 2nd President, Yaşar Güler. When we come to the chairman of the High Council, the same person is the President of the High Council for 12 years from 2003 to 2014, and he is the Prime Minister. Therefore, if there is such an accusation made by the Prosecutor's Office in the indictment, if the elected by the High Council members are completely F...'ists and 150 of them carried out the coup, then the Prosecutor's Office should file an accusation regarding these members. But no charges have been brought against them. While no investigation is being conducted against these people now, it is not fair to try the people who somehow stayed in the events at the headquarters on the night of July 15, did not get involved in anything, and did not use any force or violence.”

The General's Private was Questioned, But Hulusi Akar and Yaşar Güler were not

Think about it, even the private who was serving at the General Staff that night and whose only job was to bring tea to Brigadier General Ertuğrul Gazi Özkürkçü were subjected to torture and interrogation (Colonel Çoban's statement on page 25), Hulusi Akar and Yaşar Güler have not been subjected to any interrogation in the face of all these events. Words are insufficient to explain this situation.

Another important contradiction that Colonel Çoban pointed out in his defense is the arrests made at the General Staff on 16 July and the people who were released in the following days. In his defense, he insistently draws attention to the fact that his only act consisted of only working overtime that day. He states that he did not even take a gun in his hand for self-defense, and that he could not leave the headquarters because the guardhouses were closed. He states that others in a similar situation were released. In fact, he cries out that he was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment, while those who wandered in the corridors of the General Staff with guns that night and this situation was reflected on the security cameras were released without being properly questioned.

As a result, as can be seen in the two striking examples above, the trials did not have an objective of looking for the crime or the guilty. While those who committed the act themselves were favored and concealed for different reasons, Staff Colonel Muzaffer Çoban and others like him, whose only concern was to perform their duties with dignity, were wasted with a coup plot.

Mesut CAN