Turkey`s ex-air force chief denies role in coup plot

Tuesday, July 19, 2016 - 13:00 (EEST) Section: Latest news

General Akin Ozturk has denied being a ringleader of Friday`s attempted military coup in Turkey, BBC News reported.
Gen Akin Ozturk and 26 senior officers were charged with treason and remanded in custody by a court on Monday, the state-run Anadolu news agency said, according to BBC News.
But in a statement to prosecutors, the general insisted: ”I am not the person who planned or led the coup.”
Anadolu had earlier quoted him as telling interrogators that he had ”acted with intention to stage a coup”.
Officials have blamed the unrest, which killed at least 232 people and wounded 1,400, on the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and the ”parallel structure” they say he has formed to topple the government.
”I don`t know who planned or directed it. According to my experiences, I think that the [Gulen movement] attempted this coup,” Gen Ozturk was quoted as telling prosecutors by Anadolu before appearing in court in Ankara.
”But I cannot tell who within the armed forces organized and carried it out. I have no information. I have fought against this structure.”
In an interview with the BBC on Monday evening, Mr Gulen called the attempted takeover ”treason” and urged the government to produce evidence of his alleged involvement, saying Turkey was no longer really a democracy.