There is no “Peace at Home Council”, it is not possible!

What Is the So-Called Peace at Home Council?

During house and workplace searches conducted within the scope of coup trials, notes titled “Original Court Records of the 1960 Coup Trials” and the book “The Coup Dilemma” were found in the offices of Colonel Serkan Vurdem and Major Metin Gümüşburun. These two documents are used in military academy courses and have been in the inventory of the armed forces for years. Despite their nature and content being entirely anti-coup publications that describe the harm the 1960 coup inflicted on the Turkish Armed Forces, they were interpreted in the opposite way—as the ideological foundation of the coup and the so-called council. Based on this erroneous interpretation, these two military personnel, in whose offices these documents were found, were considered the architects of the ideological groundwork of the so-called council, even though they were paradoxically not included in the council itself!

Hulusi Akar’s Name Under the "Martial Law Directive Message"

The term Peace at Home Council appears in the Martial Law Directive Messages sent on the evening of July 15. In the testimony of Presidential Guard Regiment Commander Staff Colonel Muhsin Kutsi Barış, it is stated, "In the CD that allegedly contains the Martial Law Directive Message, given or said to be given by the then-Deputy Chief of General Staff Yaşar Güler, there is a report stating there exists a second message under the same text with Hulusi Akar's name instead of the Peace at Home Council. I quote the report verbatim: 'It has been determined that there are two different copies of the same message text, one signed as the Peace at Home Council and the other signed as Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar.'"

The indictment also states: "Even though the possibility of civilians being in the council was initially considered, Article 7 of the so-called martial law directives emphasizes that the Peace at Home Council was established within the chain of command of the Turkish Armed Forces. The coup plan's preparation and execution were assigned to military members under the supervision and coordination of this council. Thus, it is understood that this structure is entirely composed of military personnel." This means the indictment itself accepts and declares that the so-called Peace at Home Council was established within the military's chain of command.

Colonel Muhsin Kutsi Barış elaborated: "In the MEDAS Forensic Report, the findings are expressed as follows: Here is the evidence, the document. On the left side, there is a message titled 'Signed: Chairman of the Peace at Home Council.' This message was sent everywhere. It says, 'It has been observed that it bears the signature of the Chairman of the Peace at Home Council.' I am quoting the report written by the MEDAS Forensic Committee formed by the General Staff. Moving to another page, at the bottom of the page, it is stated, 'It has been observed that it bears the signature of Hulusi Akar, General, Chairman of the Peace at Home Council.'" He explained how the personnel of the Turkish Armed Forces were lured into a trap through two different orders on the night of July 15.

Only Four Pages in the Indictment

The indictment for the Main Coup Trial, in which Presidential Guard Regiment Commander Colonel Muhsin Kutsi Barış was prosecuted, consists of three volumes and 2,589 pages. While it explains every issue in great detail, it allocates only four pages to the Peace at Home Council, which was expected to form the cornerstone of the trial. When the imaginary name list is removed, only 2.5 pages remain. This superficial treatment alone demonstrates how weak, unsupported by evidence and documents, the allegations regarding the Peace at Home Council are.

No Documents or Testimonies Found!

A statement in the indictment explicitly reveals that these accusations are not even worthy of debate:
"During the investigation, no document or testimony was found regarding who the members of the Peace at Home Council were."

Colonel Muhsin Kutsi Barış summarized this situation as follows:

"The indictment states that planning for the coup attempt began in December 2015. If we are to accept this, we must also accept that the so-called council must have been established before December 2015 for planning to begin by then. If coup planning meetings started at this date and were held with the participation of council members, the prosecution’s task is very simple. It should first identify where these meetings took place and who participated. Then, from the alleged date to the date of the incident, it should track the phone connections and base station data of the so-called council members day by day, hour by hour, and add this to the case file. I believe such a study was conducted but was not included in the case file because no meaningful relationship could be established among the 38 alleged council members. Such a meaningful relationship is already impossible, Your Honor. This is because such a council does not exist; it has never been established and has never existed."

Where Were the Alleged Council Members on the Night of July 15?

Colonel Muhsin Kutsi Barış continued: "What kind of council is this where, on the very day and night when final planning, command, and execution are alleged to have occurred, its alleged members were scattered across different locations—Diyarbakır, Şırnak, Istanbul, Polatlı, Akıncı, the General Staff Headquarters, the 28th Brigade, the Armored Units, the Army Aviation School, and elsewhere? How did they make decisions? Ask anyone with military knowledge, and their conscience will tell you this: such individuals cannot produce such a clumsy, absurd, amateurish, flawed plan that is completely inappropriate to military necessities."

What Were the So-Called Council Members Doing on the Night of July 15?

Barış further explained why it was impractical for these individuals to be part of such a decision-making process: "It is inconceivable for a helicopter pilot flying a mission as an Army Aviator that night to be accused of council membership. According to the indictment, the council is the highest authority. A pilot who is flying that night cannot simultaneously be a council member. It is claimed he planned and managed a coup across Turkey, but the man was flying. A pilot cannot be part of a 38-member council on July 15. This is the technical point I am trying to make. It is impossible, Your Honor—he is flying, yet he is allegedly managing the coup. Similarly, if you add battalion or regiment commanders, staff officers, and brigade commanders listed as council members in the indictment, the number of operational personnel accused on that day rises to 15."

An analysis of the alleged council members' ranks, military branches, forces, and postings also reveals that the list lacks consistency in terms of both coup execution and post-coup planning.

Two Secret Witnesses: Neither “Secret” Nor “Witness”

The only potential evidence for the so-called Peace at Home Council comes from witness testimonies. Despite detailed and one-sided investigations, the indictment could only include statements from two secret witnesses. These witnesses later chose to reveal their identities, thereby nullifying their secrecy. Based on their statements, they claimed that promises made to them in exchange for testifying as requested were not fulfilled.

These two individuals effectively discredited their own testimonies. For instance, Halil İbrahim Yıldız, when asked why he changed his statement, said: "Let me explain, sir. The statement I gave to the authorities at that time was fabricated." Similarly, Hakan Bayık, when asked whether he heard anything about the council in the meetings he attended, said he heard nothing about it. While both witnesses admitted to attending meetings at a villa over several days and claimed to be core members of a coup-planning group, they curiously were not included in the so-called council alleged to have led the coup!

Another striking fact about these two witnesses is that they were initially planned to testify in the Izmir espionage case, but the coup attempt of July 15 rendered this unnecessary.

Proving the Nonexistent

Colonel Muhsin Kutsi Barış and the other accused individuals were forced to prove the nonexistence of something—an impossible task under universal legal principles.

Throughout his military career, on the day of July 15, and in the subsequent process, Colonel Muhsin Kutsi Barış, as always, was compelled to carry out a near-impossible task. In this case, he demonstrated through technical, practical, and logical arguments, supported by concrete examples, that the so-called Peace at Home Council did not exist.

"In the process leading up to July 15, for the aftermath of July 15, and for actions to be carried out on the night of July 15, a devious trap was laid. The vast majority of Turkish Armed Forces personnel complied with orders they were legally obliged to follow. The individuals who set this trap, however, portrayed a different image, targeting pre-prepared lists and dragging the country into an irreparable disaster. Those who have been subjected to the most unjust treatment during this process await the emergence of the truth. We, too, firmly believe in this!"

Mahir Çetin