A sleepy general on the night of the coup

They are all actually well aware that they are in an abnormal situation. For example, the co-pilot of the tanker aircraft "ASENA 3," Lieutenant Fatih Akbulut, said in his testimony, "The base commander said, 'You will go north in the direction of Ankara, you will supply fuel to the aircraft that asks for fuel from you. You will not get in contact with anyone on the transmitter.' A suspicious idea came to my mind. Normally, we would go to the east and southeast, where we are struggling against terror."

Tanker aircrafts are one of Turkey's most important military possessions in the struggle against terror and in the event of a war. The seven tanker aircrafts in the inventory of the Air Supply Fuel Maintenance Center Command at the İncirlik air base are one of the most critical elements in Turkey's aerial operations - especially in Turkey's southeast and northern Iraq - against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

This military potential was not used against the PKK but instead was used against the Turkish people and its democracy by the Gülenist network on the evening of July 15, 2016.

The person who ordered for the aircraft to be used was the İncirlik 10th Tanker Base Commander Bekir Ercan Van, who commanded the fleet.

The base commander had planned the entire day's schedule in accordance with the coup attempt that night. For example, he had also finished his shift early that Friday just like the Brig. Gen. Hakan Evrim of the Akıncı base. He made sure that each personnel who were not coup plotters left the base early, in a bid to start the preparations as soon as possible.

It was transmitted that there would be a flight that night or on Saturday to the personnel who were selected for the mission at around noon on...