Lawyers ask to hear PM in Balyoz

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

Lawyers in the Balyoz coup plot case have requested that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan be called as a witness due to a number of remarks he has made related to it. The case is expected to be finalized in hearings scheduled for Sept. 20 and 21.

The lawyers took action to have Erdoğan called as a witness following his remarks on the case during a recent visit to Ukraine.

“You know the CD issue in the Balyoz case. Why did they organize the Republican marches? There are dark pictures emerging from [the case], but I cannot say [what they are],” Erdoğan said.

Follwing Erdoğan’s remarks, Hakan Tunçkol, a lawyer for Ömer Faruk Ağa Yarman, who is held under arrest as part of the Balyoz case, filed a petition requesting that the prime minister be called to testify. “As we have learned from the press that our esteemed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has some knowledge that might illuminate the accusations,” the petition read.