Former minister, intel testify in Feb 28 probe
ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency
Orakoğlu was the deputy head of the Police Headquarters’ Intelligence Department. AA photo
Former senior police official Bülent Orakoğlu and former education minister Hasan Celal Güzel testified at a specially authorized court in Ankara yesterday as part of the ongoing investigation into the Feb. 28 “Post-modern coup.”“[I] presented [my testimony] to the specially authorized prosecutor as both witness and victim, [since I was] one of the closest witnesses of the Feb. 28 Process and victimized by it,” said Bülent Orakoğlu, the deputy head of the Police Headquarters’ Intelligence Department at the time. Orakoğlu testified for nearly 3.5 hours to specially authorized prosecutor Mustafa Bilgili at the Ankara courthouse yesterday morning.
“[I] explained as the [former] head of the police’s intelligence department that the West Working Group was a group [intending to create] the conditions for a coup in the country and that it rested upon no legal basis. I have come to understand anyway that the prosecutors are in possession of crucial information and documents pertaining to certain civilian elements that moved in conjunction with the makers of the coup,” Orakoğlu said.
Orakoğlu added that he thought those civilian elements that acted in tandem with the engineers of the coup ought to be included in the investigation as well.
Former Minister Güzel also said he had been called to testify as a witness before entering the courthouse.
“They found the document where I blew the whistle on the coup 15 years ago. I suppose they are going to [inquire] into my views on this,” he said.
After coming out of the courthouse, Güzel added that the document had been examined by the prosecutor and that he had related all he knew about the Feb. 28 Process. “I told them all I knew about Feb. 28, my struggle in this vein and my victimization by it,” he said. Former Interior Minister Meral Akşener is also expected to testify in court today.
