President Erdoğan’s chief aide admits 'mistakes' but denies link to coup, Gülenists

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s chief aide-de-camp, who was arrested as part of the wide-scale investigations into the July 15 failed coup attempt, has reportedly accepted that he made “wrong choices” on the night, but denied charges that he was involved in the coup attempt.

In his prosecutor’s testimony, Col. Ali Yazıcı was asked why he opted to go to the Aegean city of İzmir on the night of the attempt instead of Marmaris, a resort town in the Aegean province of Muğla, where Erdoğan had been on vacation. 

“I don't know. I chose İzmir instead of Marmaris and made the wrong choice. I regret this. But I don't accept being [connected to] the coup attempt. I am not [a part of the] Fethullah attempt ... It was not the Fethullah Gülen community who arranged my wedding. I do not have any relation to that group,” said Yazıcı.

Yazıcı was also asked whether he had made any attempt to learn the code of the plane which Erdoğan was on as he was traveling to Istanbul on the night of July 15.

“I did not ask for the air or radar code of the plane on which the president went to Istanbul. I did not learn it nor did I give this information to anyone. I am willing to receive any punishment if this is proven,” said Yazıcı. He also stressed that he had “never met Gülen, never stayed at their community homes and never knew a community brother,” while stressing that Gülen was a “terror organization leader.”