Land Pilot Lieutenant Serkan Çoban refused to vent helicopter lifts for the attempted assassination against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, planned by the Gulenist Terrorist Organization (FETO) on July 15. Having received instructions to prepare for the “operation against a terrorist organization” from putschist soldiers, Çoban realized that what was being carried out was actually a coup attempt and he switched off the engines of the helicopter in the air.
Lieutenant Çoban, who shut down the motors of the helicopter in the air and took up the chance to kill everyone, gave his statement to the prosecutor’s office as:
Lieutenant Çoban, the second pilot of the helicopter, stated that he had been called before his duty and was ordered to "man the helicopter" early on July 15 due to his "VIP flight". Çoban informed them that they tried to get pre-flight information, but did not receive any reply. They were, then, told that they were given a second order to rest at home until 22.00.
Stating that he returned to the brigade before the flight time and made the required controls after Colonel Murat Dağlı’s order of “man the helicopter,” Çoban talked about the rest of the stages as follows:
“Colonel Murat Dağlı, very unperturbedly, ordered us to shut down the joint frequency, to follow him and shut down the DT 900 (tracking device); our first pilot Captain Hakan Yarki also ordered so, I didn’t question it then because nothing seemed wrong to me. The person with the highest rank in the regiment and aircraft commander was giving orders, there was nothing to suspect. Captain Hakan said to the regiment commander, ‘Sir, we have equipment in the helicopter, there is no room for VIP personnel to sit.’ The regiment commander ordered us to remove the equipment from the helicopter.
Çoban, then reported that three helicopters followed leader Colonel Dağlı, and landed in the Çiğli 2nd Main Jet Base through communicating in a certain frequency.
He pointed out that Colonel Dağlı ordered the commander of the Land Pilot Bahattin Akgul to fly to Aegean Ordu and that his helicopter had been sent to his office due to the breakdown of his helicopter and that he had never heard or doubted because of him constantly being on the helicopter.
First Lieutenant Çoban, “I afforded to crash the helicopter”
“I became suspicious when I saw the armed squads”
Çoban said that when they landed on the Aegean Army, a helicopter that did not establish a radio connection with them took off, and that the personnel there had returned to the Çiğli 2nd Main Jet Base after saying "there is no one to be picked up here" .
In the meantime, seeing a notification on his phone saying “There is a notice being read on TRT”, but not being able to go into details for flight security reasons, Çoban said,
"I saw the armed squads after I landed in Çiğli. There was an extraordinary military activity, because if this is a VIP flight, it shouldn't be like that, then I start to suspect. I said “I have a message on TRT.” I read the message, and then I opened my mobile phone. I said “Okay, they will do something illegal.” I said “I have to stop them” and I did not fly, but at that moment you cannot trust anyone, you do not know who iswhat."
“I stopped the engines without telling the first pilot”
Serkan Çoban said that Colonel Murat Dağlı called the 1st pilots for a briefing and he remained near the helicopter. He continued his words as follows:
“When our first pilot arrived, he said, ‘We are going to follow empty the three armed helicopters flying to Marmaris’. I thought about what I should do at that moment and all I could think of possibly doing was to shut down the motors of the helicopter and cause some delays, and nothing else. I did this affording my life. I didn’t have any safety there, but if I told them this, they could have killed me and put someone else to keep the flight going. I sacrificed my life and shut down the motors without telling the first pilot while the helicopters were being prepared on the heliport.
You need another 15 minutes to relaunch the motors of the helicopters. Then my first pilot asked me what I was doing, I said ‘I am not flying’. He said, ‘there is a written order, are you not going to fly?’ and I said ‘Yes, I’m not going to fly’. He made the technician approve that.
Stating that then he went out of the helicopter and started calling people who he trusted, Çoban said that after the 1st pilot Hakan Yarki told the Colonel Dağlı about the situation, he commanded Lieutenant Colonel Bahattin Akgül to fly.
“I was going to shut down the motors of the helicopter and crash it”
Çoban, after Lieutenant Colonel Akgül also refused to fly, told his friends on the helicopter about the coup attempt and warned them not to move together with the traitors. After his friends realized the situation, Serkan Çoban went back to the base with the helicopter.
Çoban, who stated that he heard that the president was in Marmaris only after returning to Gaziemir, explained that he gave information to required levels regarding the helicopters moving towards there. Çoban said these:
“I was so happy to hear that we became a part of something good by delaying them, preventing those traitors. Even if there was an armed squad on my helicopter, I would still switch off the engines while flying and fall down. I would kill everyone because I lost my mind. I could have become a martyr or could not be here today, they could have shot me there; I risked those because I am not a traitor. I have been wearing uniform since I was 14. There is the rights of thousands of orphans on the flight uniform I wear. This state raised me since I was 14. I will try to hinder those who point their guns at the state, who riot, who fire their guns at this nation, and I will not hang out with those kinds of people.”
Çoban added that he was on the list of discharge during the term they were under detention, they were released after the events were cleared, that he trusted the state and the law system and that he believes a regulation regarding them will be made.
