Main opposition CHP MP hands flash drive containing list of Gülenists in army in 2007 to prosecutor’s office

Rifat Başaran – ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Tuncay Özkan handed a copy of a flash drive containing a list of military personnel in the army with links to the Gülen network in 2007, including former air force commander and key coup general Akın Öztürk, to the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office on July 25, according to the party’s leader. 

The original flash drive had been provided to Özkan 10 years ago and he had then handed it to the military for an examination, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said on July 25, adding that a group of soldiers, including Öztürk, had later destroyed the flash drive.

Speaking at his party’s parliamentary group meeting, Kılıçdaroğlu said Özkan handed the flash drive to the prosecutor’s office on July 25.

“I have just handed the documents that our party head announced in the parliamentary group meeting to Istanbul chief public prosecutors,” Tuncay tweeted.

Kılıçdaroğlu, meanwhile, said the flash drive contained all the details of the Gülenist structure within the army but the file had been closed in 2009.

“Someone comes and gives Tuncay Özkan, who was not even a member of parliament, a flash drive. He says: ‘There are all the details of the FETÖ [Fethullahist Terrorist Organization] structure in the Turkish armed forces in the flash drive.’ Özkan then hands this [to the army],” Kılıçdaroğlu said.  

“A working group had been launched for an examination at the air force command. Two years later, the information in this flash drive was transferred to a file and the case was closed. Three of five military officers who closed the case are now in jail. One of them is Akın Öztürk,” he said. 

“If those information had been taken seriously, there would neither be 250 martyrs nor 2,193 veterans today,” he said.

Öztürk, who was arrested on July 18, 2016, is accused of being a member of the “Peace in the Homeland Council,” the leading body of the foiled coup, and is accused of coordinating coup activities at the Akıncı Air Base, used as a headquarters by pro-coup soldiers. 

Separately, İlkay Sezer, the lawyer of former Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ, issued a statement after Özkan said he had handed the original flash drive to the general.

“1. Tuncay Özkan handed a flash drive to the land force commander at the time Gen. İlker Başbuğ in 2007. 2. During the preliminary examination at the command, it was seen that the information in the drive belonged to the air force personnel. 3. It was provided that the flash drive should be sent to the air force command for examination immediately after informing the General Staff,” the statement read.