Lives Darkened on July 15: Chief Aid-de-Camp of the President, Staff Colonel Ali Yazıcı

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Chief aide-de-camp, Staff Colonel Ali Yazıcı, explained the striking facts in his statement at the court. In his statement, Yazıcı also explained the process of being selected as aide-de-camp. He emphasized that although he was not even among the candidates, he was personally elected by President Erdogan. After describing the process of his election as aide-de-camp, he stated that he had two separate cases against him for assassinating the President and for allegedly being a member of the Peace at Home Council.

1. The Allegation of the Assassination of the President:

After emphasizing that he started his duty as aide-de-camp on July 27, 2015, Colonel Yazıcı stated that he lived in the Presidential Palace 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and that he got into the car or plane with the President. "If there was an assassination thought as claimed, I'm in the car with the president. Since his schedule is so busy, he sometimes sleeps in the car. There is a driver and me. I have a gun, I have everything. Don't judge me with assassination, hang me, execute me, but don't judge me…” He stated that it was insane that he was accused of committing the assassination, which he had not done for a year, in a week when he didn't know where the President was.

2. The Allegation of Being a Member of the Council of Peace at Home

After declaring that he was accused of being a member of the Council of Peace, although there is no evidence and no witness statement about himself in the file regarding his alleged membership of the Council of Peace at Home, he said “I am at the Palace and with the President 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If there is such a council, I cannot participate in this council and its work anyway. How is this possible when you are with the President 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?” He stressed that whether there was a council or not, he had neither the time nor the situation to become a member of the council.

He continued: “If I had known about July 15 in advance, if I had understood the events, I had every opportunity to escape until the morning of Sunday, July 17. I was detained on the morning of July 17th. Shouldn't I have escaped or attempted to escape in a situation where it was claimed that almost everyone who had such an opportunity and was involved in the coup fled?” Then he stated, “If I understood the events, I had my diplomatic passport with me. I would have left the country very easily, let alone escape.”

3. Detention Process and Torture

He stated that he was taken to the section of the palace where the guards were located at 07:30 in the morning of 17 July. After being beaten and cross-examined from that moment on, he was taken to the place he estimated to be TEM at around 00.00 at night. “Then I am blindfolded, and my clothes are torn by swearing and they take me somewhere. Then, as I mentioned at the beginning, they start beating me by swearing at our President. Then they open my eyes, they gave me water, then they blindfolded me again. I was tortured and beaten until the morning by two or three people. I was unconscious from the torture and pain, they brought me to my senses by pouring water on my head and asked me to explain. I told them that I didn't know anything in addition to what I said before, that I had nothing to do with what happened. A person came, lifted me up, took me outside without opening my eyes. Later, I realized that I came to the TEM gym, and I was recorded as if I had just arrived.”

He stated that on the day of the coup, he did not participate in any action, did not witness any action, did not arrest anyone, did not kill or injure anyone. He also stated that although he did not give any orders regarding these issues, he remained in the dangerous prisoner status in prison without any justification, that he had many foreclosure decisions and that he was not given the right to retirement.

In conclusion, as understood from the statement of Colonel Ali Yazıcı, it doesn't matter what you did or didn't do on July 15. It doesn't even matter if you are President Erdogan's personal choice. If you are not one of them, you are a putschist and a traitor.