Çiğli 2nd Main Jet Base Command located in İzmir was one of the most critical centers during the night of the coup, for the putschists. The team that came from Istanbul Samandra Military Base raided the Grand Yazici Hotel in Marmaris in hopes to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The attack, during which two police officers were martyred, was led by Major General Gökhan Sahin Sönmezateş.
According to the plans, Brigadier General Sönmezateş was designated as "the name that would lead MIT" if the planned coup attempt was successful.
Sönmezateş, who was the head of the assassination team and who is known to have lead the team from the 3rd helicopter, is accused by the prosecutor's office, of directing the attack on President Erdoğan's hotel. Sönmezateş was arrested on charges of violating the Constitution, of attempting to assassinate and physically assault the President, of direct administration of the assassination attempt, of committing crimes against the legislative body, of committing crimes against the constitution, of establishing or managing a terrorist organization and of murder.
The coup leader Major Gökhan Şahin Sönmezateş said the following in his testimony:
Major General Sönmezateş stated that Major Şükrü Söymen, one of the soldiers who organized the assault, had said to him “Get ready, we’ll have festivities this week”, days before the coup attempt. Sönmezateş, who was arrested in Ankara, shouted the following when he was taken to the prosecutor's office to testify, "Yes I am a coup plotter. If they want to, they can execute me. They can give me the death penalty, but I am not a member of FETÖ." In the appointment list that was prepared for the case in which the coup attempt was successful, Sönmezateş' name was mentioned as the MIT Undersecretary.
Semih Terzi insinuated
The key points of the seven-page statement given by Sönmezateş in the Muğla 2nd Penal Court of Peace are as follows: "On July 11th, Brigadier General Semih Terzi from the Special Forces (who was shot and killed by a petty officer on the night of July 15th in Ankara), called me from the safe line called Milsec, as he does routinely. However, this time he did not talk to me about the PKK. He said that the country was going through hard times, and that he was uncomfortable, and asked whether I thought the same as well. He did not tell me about the coup d’état plan. However, this jargon is associated with a coup d’état among us. I asked him who else was thinking like this, and whether the Special Forces Commander Zekai Aksakallı, the General Staff Commander, and the other force commanders supported this idea. He said that they felt this way too. "
My mission was to bring Erdoğan
According to the statement of Sönmezateş, on July 13th, Terzi called him once more:
"He said that this coup attempt will be similar to those of the past, but it will happen very quickly, that the President and his cabinet members will be taken first and sent to court, and that the trial issues are their mistakes in the process of resolution, bribery claims, and the fact that IŞİD is freely traveling anywhere. I wanted him to make clear what my duty was. I learned from him that my duty was to take the President from wherever he was and bring him to Ankara as a companion. I went to the room of Colonel Ramadan Elmas. I told him that there was a special task, that the Special Forces personnel would come from Istanbul with a helicopter, that we would go somewhere together with the MAK team there. However, I did not mention the plan about the President. He did not know about such a plan either. I invited MAK Commander Major Taner Berber to the chamber of Colonel Ramadan Elmas. I requested the materials of the MAK team be prepared.
In the statement given to the prosecutor's office by Sergenat Zekeriya Kuzu, who was in the assassination squad: At 5 pm on Friday, base commander Ramadan Elmas, called Major Taner (Taner Berber) and me to his room. Gökhan Sönmezateş, who was in the room, told them that there will be an operation and that it might be necessary for them to join. At the request of Sönmezateş, we prepared equipment for 50 people in the MAK squad. Major Taner said "We do not have enough staff, we will get help from you."
Major Taner Berber's statement to the prosecutor’s office: Colonel Ramazan Elmas, 2nd Chief of the Main Airforce Base, called Petty Officer Zekeriya Kuzu and me to the parachute warehouse. He said that Gökhan Sahin Sönmezateş would join an operation and that we should support him. He said that equipment needed for 50 people was ready. They showed us a photo of the sea taken from the sky. We were told that a senior PKK officer was staying here and we were going to take him in. At around 10 pm, Special Forces landed with helicopters. These helicopters were coming from Istanbul. I didn’t count it, I am not sure whether the two SAT personnel are included in this number, but we have formed a group of 27-28 people together with MAK teams, excluding the pilots. This was half of my expectation. Major Şükrü said there is a three to four person security team with the president, that they are in holiday mode. He also said that the Special Forces will carry out the operation, and the MAK team will provide security from behind.
He believed that the General Staff was included in this; he didn’t have the purpose to kill Erdoğan
Noting that during the preparation they made all the personnel shut down their cell phones, Sönmezateş stated that he only explained that TAF had seized the country administration, and continued with saying:
Sönmezateş, who said "Both Commander Semih’s words on the telephone and the general staff's website made the same statement and therefore, I understood what was going on, and I started to think that this was done by the Chief of General Staff together with all the commanders of the force," he continued with saying; "I told the officers that they were under the command of Major Şükrü. Because he would go downstairs and lead the operation. The reason I stayed in the helicopter is the following: from above, I would have a clearer view of what was happening on the ground. We would have contacted with Major Şükrü via radio. I never declared to the MAK personnel that the destination, meaning the person to be targeted would be the president. I did not tell anyone in the Special Forces either. I did not even tell the pilots about the situation. Actually, even the technician in the helicopter realized that there was an unusual situation during the flight and asked me whether we were doing something wrong. I told him we weren’t doing anything wrong.
Officer Zekeria's testimony: Commander Gökhan said 'The incoming team knows what to do, you will be the supportive force'. In the meantime, guests from Istanbul arrived with a helicopter. There were 14 of them. They were all camouflaged. None of them had equipment. After someone named Major Şükrü asked 'are these all the materials?' everyone started to take their equipment. There was a debate with the pilots before the helicopter took off. Commander Gökhan said 'I am here on behalf of the Chief of the General Staff. You will take the President and you will come. "
We did not plan to kill him. If we had, we would have easily bombed the place and killed him. On the contrary, our task was to bring him to the Ankara Akıncı Base alive. We would take the President of the Republic and go to Dalaman by helicopter and then we would take him to Ankara by plane and deliver him to the Akıncı Air Base. I do not know the name of the person he would be delivered to. My duty was to accompany the president during the flight."
Sönmezateş, who reported that Şükrü Söymen said that the operation was canceled, then he said that they would start the operation again. They had lost half an hour because of this reason, he also said "Now I think that a senior person deliberately made us wait there. If we were on time, we would have reached our target. At that time, it was around 02:15-02:30 a.m. We had an hour or an hour and 15 minute flight. We arrived around 03:30-03:45 a.m. to the place where the hotel was.
"We were the first ones to land according to the plan"
The detained general said the following: "Even if he had his son or wife or other relatives with him, our plan was only to take the President. Before the operation, when I asked Major Şükrü what they would do in case of opposition, he said that first he would give the “lay down” command, and that if they still continued to resist, they were planning to neutralize the resistance by opening fire below the waistline. We did not have any inhuman plans for civilian citizens. "
Sönmezateş, who remained at the helicopter after he dropped the soldiers at the hotel, stated that they landed at Imsık Square due to fuel problems and that he learned from Şükrü Söymen that the operation was unsuccessful.
'The Assassination Trial' has begun
The trial of the attack on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan organized by the FETÖ assassination squad, began in the Muğla Chamber of Commerce and Industry on February 20th. Gökhan Şahin Sönmezateş, who is the second suspect in the case and who is claimed to have directed the assassination squad from his helicopter, claimed in his trial that Semih Terzi had given him his orders and they then went to Marmaris to bring President Erdogan to Ankara.
Gökhan said that he did not accept the accusations in the official written accusation, "Since the first day, I have given every single detail in my defense. After my explanations, some facts came to light. There was a confidentiality decision about the file, but after my statements began to appear in the newspapers, everyone started blaming me. Everyone used my name. Everyone added my name to their statements."
Gökhan continued his plea, “I am not claiming that I did not commit a crime,” and continued, “I am a citizen of the Republic of Turkey, I am a former military officer, but I have been treated inhumanely during the processes of this case. The worst was the psychological torture. I was threatened with the life of my wife and daughter." He goes on to explain the details of the assassination night, "I am telling you clearly. My task was to pick up the President and take him to Ankara. I am a soldier, I fulfill my orders. If anyone tried to harm the President, I would personally shoot him.”
Gökhan stated that he learned about the mission on Wednesday from Semih Terzi before the coup and said; the reason why I met with Semih Terzi in Istanbul was the fact that the President could not be reached for 2 days and his location was unknown. The cancellation of the mission was always on the agenda. Ankara did not know where the President of the Republic of Turkey was, and they could not tell us. I did not choose the Special Forces and the MAK Team. I did not give orders. I did not choose the flight team. Even a 15 year old can’t make such a bad plan. Actually, the question I'm trying to answer is why we were kept waiting for 4 hours? We left at 02:20 am after the President left Marmaris and Semih Terzi was killed. We were ambushed. I would not take those people there if I knew."
…"If I made the plan, it would have been successful." Gökhan was not able to reach the President’s adjutant Ali Yazıcı, he continued, “I did not talk to him. We were not allowed to talk to each other. If I made this plan, it would have been successful or we would not have gone in the first place. This task has been given to me because I have successfully fulfilled my assigned tasks till today. If I were able to talk to him, we would be at a different point today. Or we would never have gone to Marmaris."
Who kept us waiting for four hours? Sönmezateş, who asserted that he is not a member of FETÖ, said, “I am accused of being a member of FETÖ. I do not accept this accusation. I've been accused before. I did not study at FETO's schools. There was no material interest between me and them. Saying Fethullah Gulen is a prophet is perverted. Yes, I accepted this assignment and now I am paying for it. Who misled us, who sacrificed us? Who kept us waiting four hours? I'm looking for this answer. We were gone when the latest information came. I feel sorry for those who were martyred there. I take full responsibility for my actions, but I do not accept the killing part. I did not sell anyone out among whom I worked with. I am not going confess to something that I did not do. Zekeriya Kuzu has exceeded the limits if he beat the police officers and said those words. I did not give such an order. His task was to secure the environment. I said that TAF took over the administration. However, I did not tell anyone about the special duty of the President. We did not go for the benefit of a sect or a community."
Gökhan, who asserted that it was not possible for the helicopters to take off without the relevant centers being aware of them, said, "There were a few centers that could prevent us from going on a mission. None of them sent any warnings to us. We were encouraged to go on the mission. We flew for 4 hours and why was this allowed, why didn’t anyone prevent it? What changed between 02:35 am and 06:35 am? Then we were finally prevented to fly at the base on which we landed just for refueling, and there is no such thing as a 'silent flight’."
Brigadier General Gökhan Şahin Sönmezateş contined his plea, "Ramazan Elmas had no chance of interfering with me because of his position. But helicopter flights are followed by Air Force units as well as by the Aegean Army Command. They even can easily be seen by radar from Greece. Why didn’t any of the units from the Aegean Army Air force interfere with us? They could have stopped us if they wanted to. I request you to ask this officially to the relevant authorities."
General Sönmezateş also claimed that they were allowed only to fly in Bodrum that they were not given fuel, but that they were not allowed to take off again when they returned to Izmir.
"I had the duty to escort." Gökhan, who rejected the questions asked by the Chief Justice on whether he had participated in a meeting related to the coup attempt in Ankara and whether he had a meeting with civilian imams of FETÖ, he said, “I could have said that I took the order from the chief of the General Staff. But that’s not correct. When I look at the period of the past 6 months, I see that it was not given by them. I got the instructions from Semih Terzi. Semih Terzi and Zekeriya Aksakallı were valuable to me. They still are. We had our first meeting with Semih Terzi on July 11th. On Wednesday, during our second meeting, I learned the details about my mission. I only had the duty to escort. Who provided the helicopters? Who planned it? I do not know. I would give clear answers if I were the one who had planned it. I did not select MAK and SAT teams either. The Special Forces do not take orders from anyone else but themselves. I met with Şükrü Seymen at the guesthouse of the Air Force Academy upon the instructions of Semih Terzi. I didn’t give any information to anyone about the operation at the Çiğli Main Jet Base. I just gave the flight team the coordinates on the runway. I took out my mobile phone and gave them on Google. Everyone was gathered there by the chain of command. Everyone took their mission from his own commander. My task again, I say, was to take the president and to bring him to Akıncı, safe and sound. There was no such order to kill. I trusted some people so much that at some point I had a dumb moment. I would not have accepted it if I were given an assassination task."
'There were people with higher rankings for MIT Undersecretary,” was Gokhan’s response to to the question on his task as the MIT Undersecretary according to the martial law list, he said, “I have not seen that list yet. The list does not seem to be reasonable at all. I am not the right person for this matter because of the hierarchy. There were people with higher ranks than I.”
After completing his plea, Gökhan Şahin Sönmezateş answered the following questions of the trial prosecutor: “Did you shoot at the defendants from your helicopter?” “Did you say, during your talk in Çiğli, that there would be civilian citizens there and that there will be an inevitable conflict?" Gokhan’s response to these questions was, "No one shot from my helicopter. I did not give any orders related to engaging in a conflict with civilians.”
The complainant’s attorneys also asked questions: “Is it possible for him to not be the organizer of this attempt since he is one of the team leaders? Is it really possible that there was no armed conflict or that you did not know about an armed conflict?” In which Gokhan replied, "I did not know about any conflict, I could not predict the conflict." As an answer to the following question asked by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's lawyer, “He says that he is not a member of the FETÖ, and that he did not assemble his squad himself, then with what kind of motivation did you do this operation?” he answered, "I did it for the same reason as Alparslan Türkeş and Kenan Evren did it, I did it to protect my country and my nation."
'What would you do if they showed any resistance?'
Upon this, the complainant’s lawyer asked him another question: “If the president’s guards were there, they would not surrender. How would you get over the guards? The President and his family would also resist. What would you do upon this?” Sönmezateş said, the President of the Republic, was to be taken safe and sound. Anything would be done to make this possible. When the Chief Judge asked, “What would you do if they showed any resistance?” He said, “I don’t want to talk about a hypothetical situation that has not occurred.” Then defendant’s lawyer asked whether they made a planning for fuel, and Gökhan finally said, “We ran out of fuel when we were made to wait in the runway. The pilot was supposed to make this plan.”
