Strategy department as a putschist laboratory

One of the key figures in the July 15, 2016, coup attempt was the head of the Strategic Transformation Department of the General Staff, Maj. Gen. Mehmet Dişli. While defending himself in a statement to the prosecutor on July 18, 2016, he said: "I have worked with the commander for 16 years at several levels. I regard the commander as a part of my family." 

When you compare the biographies of Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and Dişli - the latter tried to persuade Akar to take the lead of the coup that night - one can see clearly that especially after 2000, they really worked together closely. For instance, while Akar was in Naples between 2000 and 2002 at NATO headquarters, Dişli was also at the same quarters between 2000 and 2003. On his return to Ankara, Akar was the Military Academy commander and Dişli also served under him. 

Akar was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in 2007. He was the 3rd Corps Commander in Istanbul in 2009 and Dişli was his chief of staff as a staff colonel. 

They were separated for two years but started working together again in 2012. Dişli's department in the General Staff headquarters was the Project Management Department. In 2016, Akar upgraded the department's status and changed its name. 

The department Dişli headed was first founded with the aim of providing scientific support to the top command. Its original name was "Scientific Decision Support Center," but its name was subsequently changed twice. It was tasked with designing the change and transformation for the future of the armed forces. Its staff was predominantly made up of staff officers. 

Dişli was at the head of this critical department planning the future of the Turkish Armed Forces for four years, until the moment...