Coup: Cadets were 'deceived' by suicide bomb alert lie

ANKARA

A war academy student, involved in the July 15 coup attempt, said that he and fellow cadets had been deceived into believing that they would be attempting to prevent suicide bombers from accessing the Bogazici (Bosphorus) Bridge in Istanbul.

On the evening of July 15, the bridge, which links the European and Asian sides of the city, was seized by pro-coup troops.

Kagan Karalurt, one of the military students who blocked the road on the Bosphorus Bridge and has since been remanded in custody after the attempt, said in his testimony Friday that he was in a military summer camp in Turkey's northwestern province of Yalova on July 15.

Yesilkoy Air Force Academy student Karalurt said that in the camp after the cadets went to bed, they were summoned to the training field at 10.10 p.m. local time (1910GMT).

He said that they gathered on the field fully equipped and armed.

"Certain names were read out,” he explained. Following the read-out, they were split into two groups.

Karalurt said that First Lt. Ali Akcay and Cap. Metin Kazanci were the ones reading out the names.

The first group, comprised of those names were read, departed from Yalova on three buses.

He said that ammunition was delivered to the buses before departure. Commander Gazi Odaci had told them that they would head to “night target practice” and training.

Karalurt said that the students in the bus asked the commander repeatedly where they were going.

"The commander said that there was suicide bombing, that there were eight and that they came to there to prevent them [from acting]. Even, we asked why they were bringing us out while there was such staff in Istanbul. He got angry and said: 'Be silent. Do not talk among yourselves'," Karalurt said.

He said they arrived to a place near Bogazici Bridge and that they were stopped by a police vehicle there. Karalurt added that some of the civilians welcomed them with cheers while others tried to attack them with rocks.

"We ran towards the tanks and soldiers on the bridge following a run order. We had our guns but some of our friends could not have their guns. Even, some of them gave their guns to civilians. In the meantime, people were shooting from the place where we were. The tanks also fired. The number of the riot control vehicles was increasing. Even, Maj. Tuncay said: 'Let's hit one of the riot control vehicles.' Direct fire order was given to us but I fired the gun into the air to protect the people. The commanders were writing some telephone messages, continuously," he said.

Karalurt said the commanders decided to surrender to police in the morning.

He said that people took the guns from soldiers and climbed on the tanks.

"We ran away with the worry of being shot. Police intervened and said that nothing bad will happen and told us to get down on the ground," Karalurt added.

Turkey's government has said the attempted coup was organized by followers of U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen, who is accused of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through infiltrating into Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming a ‘parallel state’.

The deadly coup attempt began late July 15 when rogue elements of the Turkish military tried to overthrow the country's democratically elected government.

At least 246 people, including members of the security forces and civilians, were martyred during the failed putsch and more than 2,100 others were wounded as they protested against it.

* Tutku Senen contributed to this report from Ankara.