Staying home when your contingent is staging a coup

When the June 15 coup attempt failed, the next day on July 16, 2016 putschist officers at Ankara's Güvercinlik Base at the Army Aviation Command were apprehended and handed over to the judicial authorities. One of the officers active in this operation was Colonel İdris Feyzi Okan, army aviation regiment commander. 

Colonel Okan was the commander of the helicopter pilots who actively participated in the coup attempt. However, he did not take part in the rebellion. He spent the night outside the headquarters, at home. The next day, while the process of turning in the putschist officers was ongoing at the base, Okan was next to Army Aviation Commander Gen. Hakan Atınç, who was apprehended by the putschists at the base in his office one night before.  

According to Okan's statement, when they entered the base together with Gen. Atınç in the morning, they found one of the putschist officers Murat Bolat. Okan said Bolat started crying. "I hit his head with my hand and told him to stop crying," he added.

Colonel Okan was rewarded for his stance on July 15. Even though he was not staff officer, he was promoted to brigadier general on July 29 at the Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) meeting. When base Commander Atınç was appointed to another position, İdris Feyzi Okan became Army Aviation Commander. 

Brigadier general Okan was active in his job until he was ordered to be detained on Jan. 18 on charges of participating in the coup attempt and trying to topple the government. He was detained in his office and was arrested at the Court of First Instance on Jan. 20. 

Okan was dismissed from the military with a state of emergency decree (KHK) dated April 29. He is now defendant number 74 in the Army Aviation Command case. 

Okan's...