Colonel vows ‘execution’ of actors in coup probes in recording

“The end of these men is the execution of colleagues. The end of this team is execution. You will see this, even if I cannot. I had said this a thousand times. These guys, I mean those who caused us suffering, will all pay for this with their heads,” Col. Yavuz Arıcıoğlu says in a recording posted to Twitter account ses_tv.

The colonel was referring to the government as well as the judges and prosecutors overseeing the ongoing anti-coup investigations. Dozens of active duty and retired members of the Turkish military are currently jailed as part of investigations in which they are accused of plotting to overthrow the democratically elected government.

“We seem to have lost in the short run, but they will pay the price of this with their heads,” says Arıcıoğlu.

The alleged voice of Arıcıoğlu also complains that the jailed military officers are facing terrorism charges although they worked to protect Turkey, the secular regime and the principles of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

“Do you know what our biggest problem is? Our biggest problem is this: A lot of things are happening. There is a very chaotic environment. There are around 400 high-ranking officers in jail now, either retired or active duty officers. Is there any single person who is telling you what to do? There is neither anyone who informs us nor anyone who tells us to do this or that,” says the voice in the recording.

He also uses profanity about a Yeni Şafak daily reporter saying: “The Yeni Şafak [daily] reporter says we are paying the price for our actions during the Feb. 28 process. You just wait expletive.”

Feb. 28 refers to a military coup in 1997 when the military forced a coalition government led by a now-defunct, conservative party, the Welfare Party (RP), to resign on the grounds that there was rising religious fundamentalism in the country.

The Feb. 28 coup introduced a series of harsh restrictions on religious life, with an unofficial but widely practiced ban on the use of the Islamic headscarf. The military was also purged of members with suspected ties to religious groups or even officers who were simply observant Muslims.

Arıcıoğlu confesses that he took part in the military’s illegitimate actions during the Feb. 28 coup.

“I also did the now-illegitimate things during the Feb. 28 process. We investigated the wife of a noncommissioned officer who refused to bring his wife to the military facilities. She turned out to be the kind of cockroach you know. I call women who wear chadors cockroaches,” the alleged voice of Arıcıoğlu says in the voice recording.

The voice in the recording also confesses that some military officers, including him, were sent to mosques in civilian clothes during the Feb. 28 process to make a list of military officers who were praying.

Arıcıoğlu allegedly said he did this despite not knowing how to pray.

The same Twitter account has posted other recordings in past weeks. In a recording released last week, a person alleged to be Gen. Bilgin Balanlı, a prime suspect in the ongoing trial regarding the Sledgehammer coup d’état plot, is heard saying the prime minister and president will pay for jailing former and active members of the military in coup investigations. Gen. Balanlı is heard saying, “The price for all that has been happening will be paid either at the presidential or prime ministerial level.”

The person speaking on the recording claims that the government will issue a general amnesty for coup plot suspects and goes on to say that he and other military personnel will make the government pay for it. “It is impossible for these people [members of the government] to say sorry. They will either have to release us, prolong the trial period or issue a general amnesty,” the person, alleged to be Balanlı, adds.

Two other voice recordings were also released last week. In one, Rear Adm. Cem Aziz Çakmak, who is currently among dozens of military officers jailed for suspected involvement in a coup plot dubbed “Sledgehammer,” says “there will be revenge taken for the Sledgehammer” probe within two years and that many will be hurt, including children.

In an earlier recording released a few days prior to that of Çakmak, another Sledgehammer suspect threatened the government with civil war as soon as the suspects imprisoned on charges of plotting a coup are released from prison. In the recording, a person alleged to be Rear Adm. Fatih Ilgar harshly criticizes the prime minister and senior military officers and says the suspects jailed on charges of plotting to overthrow the government will be released from prison in about two months, thanks to a bill that will be put to a vote in Parliament soon.