The Death of Mehmet Çetin: The Bodyguards' Statements

According to the soldiers' statements, on the night of 15–16 July, as the soldiers were advancing through the Turban Hotel, the presidential bodyguards Murat Bayrak, Hamza Eroğlu and Süleyman Küççükerdoğan, who were outside in the area beside villa 1782, shouted at the approaching soldiers, "Halt, surrender," and opened fire with pistols. The soldiers answered that fire with suppressive fire. According to the bodyguards, on the other hand, it was the soldiers who answered their "surrender" warning with gunfire. There is no differing account as to the direction from which the soldiers came or the place where these three bodyguards were; only the question of who started the firefight is in dispute.

As for Mehmet Çetin's death, the soldiers said that they did not know how Mehmet Çetin had been killed and that they had seen no one seriously wounded or dead at the hotel. Looking at the bodyguards' statements, there are three separate versions. The first was the allegation of İrfan Paksoy — a special-operations police officer serving in the Presidential Protection Department who, in his statement of 16 July 2016, said that he had personally witnessed Mehmet Çetin's death. İrfan Paksoy said that Mehmet Çetin had been killed, three hours before the soldiers arrived, at the rear of villa 1782, by persons dressed as soldiers who had likewise come by helicopter. The second version is the allegation — set out in the record kept on 18 July 2016 by the bodyguards, İrfan Paksoy among them — that, after the brief firefight between the soldiers and the bodyguards as the soldiers were approaching villa 1782, when the soldiers came to villa 1782 to take the bodyguards into custody, a soldier, shouting at the bodyguards inside the villa, "So you'd fire on soldiers?! Cop, cop!", fired two rounds. The third — and the one on which the court ruled accordingly in its reasoned judgment — is the allegation made by the head of the protection detail, Murat Bayrak, in his statement to the prosecutor on 28 July: that, although he had alleged something different earlier in the record, Mehmet Çetin — who during the aforementioned brief firefight was on the balcony of villa 1782 — was killed as a result of the soldiers' fire. As can be seen, Mehmet Çetin — who on 16 July had been killed by a team that came in advance, and on 18 July at close range by soldiers with a "so you fire on soldiers, do you" — was finally, on 28 July, before the Muğla prosecutor, conclusively determined to have been killed from a distance, while on the balcony, during the first firefight with the soldiers. (İrfan Paksoy's complainant statement dated 16.07.2016, The bodyguards' joint record dated 18.07.2016 and Murat Bayrak's statement to the public prosecutor's office dated 28.07.2016)

On its own, the very fact that the same bodyguards gave such differing statements, within 12 days, about how Mehmet Çetin was killed shows that there is something abnormal in this affair. Let us now examine all the statements the bodyguards gave, and their testimony in court:

In an earlier chapter we explained that blood traces belonging to Mehmet Çetin were found at the rear of villa 1751, whereas there was no blood trace belonging to Mehmet Çetin in the vicinity of villa 1782. Accordingly, none of the three allegations — those of the bodyguards and of the court, that Mehmet Çetin was killed around villa 1782, in whose vicinity the firefight with the soldiers took place — appears consistent. Even so, it is worth examining these allegations one by one:

The Allegation of the Bodyguard İrfan Paksoy

İrfan Paksoy, who claims to be the sole eyewitness to the killing of Mehmet Çetin, was also the first bodyguard to give a statement. In his statement given on 16 July between 07:40 and 08:10İrfan Paksoy's complainant statement dated 16.07.2016: İrfan Paksoy's complainant statement dated 16 July 2016., he said that soldiers who had arrived by three helicopters between 00:00 and 00:30 on 16 July had killed Mehmet Çetin. The accused, who were convicted of the offence of killing Mehmet Çetin, however, had arrived in Marmaris at around 03:00 that night. That is, according to İrfan Paksoy's statement, those who killed Mehmet Çetin must have been not the accused but others. Despite this, the Muğla 2nd Assize Court, disregarding the statement of İrfan Paksoy — who claims to be the sole witness to the incident — sentenced the accused, each separately, to aggravated life imprisonment, on the ground that they had committed, jointly against Mehmet Çetin, the offence charged against them of "Intentional Killing Because of the Public Service He Performs". The court not only disregarded İrfan Paksoy's statement but also did not summon him to give evidence in court. It saw no need to investigate why he had given this statement. In fact, no bodyguard at all took part in the trial held in Muğla. Curious but true: the accused soldiers were sentenced on the basis that Mehmet Çetin had been killed during the firefight that broke out between the bodyguards and the soldiers, yet in court the bodyguards were not heard even once, nor confronted with the accused. Likewise, the Marmaris district police officers and the İzmir special-operations police officers who took part in the firefight in front of the Casa de Maris Hotel were not heard in court either, nor confronted with the accused. In the robbery and unlawful-detention case heard in İzmir in 2022, meanwhile, while the other bodyguards came to court, İrfan Paksoy again did not, on the ground that he was posted in India. Yet he could have taken part in the hearing by video link, via SEGBİS (the courts' audio-visual hearing system), from the embassy in India.

Let us now examine İrfan Paksoy's statement. One striking point in the statement is that, during the 00:00–00:30 window in which he says the helicopters arrived, Erdoğan was giving a press statement and connecting to the CNN Türk and A Haber channels via the FaceTime application. Between 00:04 and 00:11, Erdoğan made a statement to members of the press in front of the villa where he was staying in MarmarisErdoğan's press statement in front of the villa where he was staying at the Marmaris Turban Hotel (text and video): The press statement Erdoğan made in front of the villa where he was staying at the Marmaris Turban Hotel (text). Video. After this press statement, which ended at 00:11, Erdoğan — seen entering the villa together with the Governor of Muğla, Amir Çiçek — connected, between 00:24 and 00:30, from a room in the villa, together with the Energy Minister and his son-in-law Berat Albayrak, the Governor of Muğla Amir Çiçek and the head of the private office Hasan Doğan, to the CNN Türk television channel via the FaceTime telephone application, and called the people into the squares. He then, in turn, connected to the A Haber channel between 00:33 and 00:37Erdoğan's live connection to A Haber. Link: Erdoğan — A Haber Live Link, to NTV between 00:44 and 00:47Erdoğan's live connections by FaceTime to television channels, NTV chief among them (video). Link: Erdoğan — NTV Live Link, and finally to TGRT Haber at around 00:50Footage from Erdoğan's live connection to TGRT. Link: Erdoğan — TGRT Live Link, repeating similar appeals.

Meanwhile, a crowd of citizens numbering in the hundreds, most of them members of the AKP district organisation, had gathered at the entrance of the Turban Hotel between 00:00 and 01:30Camera Footage of the Crowd Gathered at the Entrance of the Turban Hotel (from the Digital Forensics department's DVR device examination report): Camera Footage of the Crowd Gathered at the Entrance of the Turban Hotel (taken from the examination report by the Digital Forensics department of the Turban Hotel's Unimo-brand UDR-716CE-model DVR device, serial number 121249334)..

If, as İrfan Paksoy states in his statement, three helicopters had arrived between 00:00 and 00:30, landed soldiers on the shore, and these soldiers had entered the Turban Hotel, killed one of the presidential bodyguards and seized the others, then Erdoğan could hardly have been making the connections described above at that very time, and the crowd gathered in front of the hotel could hardly have remained indifferent to all this. The allegation that three helicopters arrived between 00:00 and 00:30 stands in contradiction with the fact that not a single social-media post on the subject was made by any of the hundreds of citizens gathered in front of the hotel.

Indeed, Erdoğan himself, speaking live on A Haber at 00:37, responded to the presenter's remark "there is speculation about your healthErdoğan's live connection to A Haber. Link: Erdoğan — A Haber Live Link," and, speaking on NTV at 00:48, to the question "Has there been any move against you?" with "There is nothing of the sortA frame from Erdoğan's live connection to NTV. Link: Erdoğan — NTV FaceTime Link."

In addition, allegations have been raised that Erdoğan made the press statement earlier and that the local journalist Temel Irmak broadcast it at 00:04 as though it were live. These allegations have also been voiced in many forms — that Erdoğan was in fact never in Marmaris, that he left at around 23:30, before the soldier-looking individuals arrived between 00:00 and 00:30, and that he came to İstanbul by helicopter rather than on the ATA aircraft. In the photograph below, taken by the reporter Sabri Kesen during the press statement, Temel Irmak's telephone — the white telephone on the far right — can be seen. It was determined that, in the photograph, while Temel Irmak was filming, the Facebook application was open on his telephone, the live-broadcast indicator was showing, and that the comments on the broadcast visible on the screen matched the comments on the live-broadcast post on Temel Irmak's Facebook account; and it was assessed that Temel Irmak made the broadcast between 00:04 and 00:11. Erdoğan therefore made the press statement in the villa at the Turban Hotel during these hours. Given that he then connected to CNN Türk at 00:24, it can be seen that he finished the press statement at 00:11 and entered the villa together with the Governor; it does not appear possible for him to have moved to another location within 13 minutes and connected to CNN. Another piece of evidence on this point: although, when the soldiers arrived at around 03:00, about 50 people — some of them tourists staying at the Turban and Casa de Maris, where the events took place — posted, especially on Twitter, that they had heard or seen helicopters, gunfire and a bomb going off, there is no post from before 03:00 about a helicopter arriving and a firefight taking place. There are around ten Twitter posts made while Erdoğan's helicopter came to Marmaris from Okluk Koyu (Okluk Cove) at around 00:00 and left at around 01:15. These, however, make no mention of any abnormal situation such as a firefight or a bomb going off. Moreover, in the security-camera records obtained from the Turban Hotel, it can be seen that at around 01:15 an official car left the hotel with escorts, that the soldiers arrived at the hotel at around 03:30, and that they left the hotel at around 04:20Turban Hotel camera footage showing the departure of the official car and the arrival of the soldiers (from the Digital Forensics department's DVR device examination report): Camera footage showing the departure of the official car and the arrival of the soldiers.. For this reason, it has been assessed that, during the taking or recording of statements at the Marmaris District Police Directorate, the statements of some witnesses — or the times at which they gave them — may have been altered, or the statements may have been interfered with. There are examples of this among those who gave more than one statement. For example, although the 112 ambulance personnel said, in their statements given on 18 July after the incident, that the command centre had dispatched them to the Turban Hotel at 03:49 because a firefight had broken out, in the statements they gave in court as complainants in 2017 they stated that the command centre had dispatched them at around 01:00 because fire had been opened from a helicopter. However, although the 112 emergency-service telephone records contain other entries, there is no record of their having come to the Turban Hotel at around 01:00. This matter will be dealt with separately and in detail later.

In short, it is understood that the part of İrfan Paksoy's statement stating that "the incident occurred between 00:00 and 00:30" is not possible. In the statement he goes on to recount what happened after the helicopter arrivedİrfan Paksoy's complainant statement dated 16.07.2016: İrfan Paksoy's complainant statement dated 16 July 2016., in summary:

"We were all waiting, with my whole team, in villa 1782; the helicopters landed soldiers on the shore, and we took up position in villa 1782; thinking that the soldiers might also come from the rear, I went with Mehmet Çetin to the rear part of the villa (the forest side); when we went out through the garden door we came upon soldiers, and the soldiers began to open fire; I crossed to the right side of the path, Mehmet Çetin remained on the left side of the path; there were soldiers both behind and in front of Mehmet Çetin, and they closed in, opening fire; I shouted to Mehmet Çetin to come to me, but because of the intense fire he could not; after the intense fire the soldiers moved away from Mehmet Çetin and went over to my colleagues in villa 1782. When the soldiers left there, I went, shouting, towards the place where I had last seen Mehmet Çetin, but Mehmet Çetin was not there. I then went to my colleagues in villa 1782, and together with them I searched for Mehmet Çetin, and we found him in the scrub in front of the balcony of villa 1782. He had one wound to his back, one beneath the rib cage, and one to his leg."

The first thing to be said about this part of the statement is that, in the crime-scene examination, no blood trace belonging to Mehmet Çetin was found at the place where İrfan Paksoy says Mehmet Çetin was exposed to the soldiers' fire — that is, at the rear of villa 1782.

Second: if Mehmet Çetin, as İrfan Paksoy says, was shot behind villa 1782 and was then found in front of the balcony on the front side of villa 1782, then he either went there wounded and collapsed on the spot, or was carried by the soldiers from the rear of villa 1782 to its front. In either case, Mehmet Çetin — grievously wounded in the chest, the lower back and the leg — would have bled as he went, or was taken, from the rear of villa 1782 to its front, and a blood trace ought to have been found along that route. But none was found. As noted in an earlier chapter, the blood trace belonging to Mehmet Çetin was found at the rear of villa 1751 and in the area between villa 1751 and the place where the ambulance stopped (15 metres from villa 1782).

Third: in his statement İrfan Paksoy says, "While I was waiting with my whole team in villa 1782 of the hotel, one heard helicopter sounds from outside; we tried to make out what was happening; when we looked outside, we saw the helicopters landing camouflaged, heavily armed soldiers on the shore; we immediately took up position in the villa; then, thinking that the soldiers might also come from the rear, I went with my teammate, the special-operations police officer Mehmet ÇETİN, towards the rear part of the villa; when we went out through the garden door towards the rear, we saw the soldiers coming towards the side where we myself were." However, the rear of villa 1782 is a place where villas 1780 and 1781 are located. It does not appear possible for the soldiers to have come from the rear. It might be possible if the rear were an empty space. Someone could come to the rear of 1782 from the side — either from the 1785 side or from the other side, that is, from their own side, the 1782 side. At 1785 there are already bodyguards such as Burak Güzel and Uğur Göküz. At 1782 they themselves are present. There is no way they could fail to see people who might come to the rear. Moreover, there is no garden at the rear of villa 1782. On the lower floor, the exit opens onto a roughly 2-metre-wide concrete-floored path; on the upper floor, the exit by the stairs opens onto a similar but this time slightly wider path. There is no garden. Accordingly, it comes to mind that this statement of İrfan Paksoy's may be one constructed in order to say that Mehmet Çetin was killed "in villa 1782" — a place that could appear plausible because a firefight with the soldiers took place in its vicinity, a bomb was set off beside it, and its door was broken.

Fourth: the other bodyguards ought also to have heard İrfan Paksoy shouting to Mehmet Çetin to come to him, and shouting as he went, after the soldiers had left, to the place where he had last seen Mehmet Çetin. Yet no bodyguard mentioned such an important matter in his statement.

Fifth: İrfan Paksoy says, "Mehmet Çetin was on the left of the path and I was on his right. The soldiers closed in, opening fire from in front of and behind Mehmet Çetin." If the soldiers were in front of and behind Mehmet Çetin, who was on the left of the path, they would also be in front of and behind İrfan Paksoy, who was on the right of the path. They ought to have seen him too. On top of that, İrfan Paksoy says, "I shouted to Mehmet Çetin to come to me." When he shouted to him, he would have given away his position. In that case, the soldiers who killed Mehmet Çetin would have killed him too. The path he refers to (the rear of 1782) is a narrow path roughly 2 metres wide. There is nowhere on this path for İrfan Paksoy to hide. Moreover, if there were soldiers both in front of and behind Mehmet Çetin, how did they fire at Mehmet Çetin without hitting one another?

Sixth: İrfan Paksoy says that he looked at the helicopter through the thermal camera on his rifle. He is himself a special-operations police officer. He must be an expert in marksmanship. He has the capacity to fire effectively from a distance, under night conditions, with a thermal camera. That being so, why İrfan Paksoy — who had night vision through a thermal camera — did not fire on the soldiers who killed his colleague is also a question mark.

Seventh: whereas all the other bodyguards say, "We saw that Mehmet Çetin was wounded by one bullet in the leg and two bullets in the chest," İrfan Paksoy says he was wounded in the back, beneath the rib cage and in the leg. The only person besides İrfan Paksoy who says Mehmet Çetin was wounded in the back is Özkan Özel. In the 112 call records, the person who called the emergency service for Mehmet Çetin at 04:38 and 04:46 gives his name as Özkan Özel. In the recording, Özkan Özel says that he is not a police officer. Yet he speaks very authoritatively for a civilian. He says that there are four or five wounded and that the police officers are attending to other casualties. But when the bodyguards recount the moment they found Mehmet Çetin, they mention no other person. Moreover, no statement is taken from this person, and his name does not appear among the personnel on duty at the Turban Hotel that night. Even the baker — who says that he was baking bread in the oven at the Turban Hotel that night, that he never went outside, and that he only heard the helicopter sounds — had his statement taken; that no statement was taken from Özkan Özel, who called 112 while Mehmet Çetin was wounded, shows that the investigation was carried out incompletely.

Eighth: according to İrfan Paksoy's account, the soldiers went to the bodyguards in villa 1782; when they left, İrfan Paksoy went, shouting, towards the place where he had last seen Mehmet Çetin; Mehmet Çetin was not there; he then went to his colleagues in villa 1782. That is, the soldiers went into and out of villa 1782 and left; the bodyguards, meanwhile, remained in villa 1782. Only İrfan Paksoy and Mehmet Çetin went outside; Mehmet Çetin was killed; and İrfan Paksoy waited outside for the soldiers to leave. However, according to the statements given by the other 21 bodyguards and by the soldiers, this is not how it happened.

Since the footage from the security cameras inside the hotel did not enter the case file, we can only infer what the soldiers and the bodyguards experienced on the basis of the statements. Footage showing the exterior parts of the Turban Hotel exists, but footage showing the interior parts is not in the file. On this basis, when we summarise the soldiers' and the bodyguards' statements as a whole, taking their common points, what happened inside the hotel is, in summary, as follows:

When the soldiers approached from the shore side, Murat Bayrak, Hamza Eroğlu and Süleyman Küççükerdoğan met them outside villa 1782 and told them to surrender; a firefight of about a minute took place between them. The bodyguards fled into villa 1782. During this, the bodyguard Hamza Eroğlu was wounded by shrapnel. İsmail Yiğit set off a sound-and-pressure offensive-type hand grenade beside the villa window. Şükrü Seymen bluffed, "Bring the rocket launcher." When he said, "If you don't come out, we'll fire a rocket launcher inside," first Murat Bayrak, then the other bodyguards in 1782, surrendered. Searching 1785, 84 and 83 as well, the soldiers also brought the bodyguards who were at 1785 over beside the Relax pool. Here the bodyguards, searched and disarmed, were taken further back, to an area closer to the shore where the MAK teams were. As they came out of 1782, the bodyguard Burak Yiğit took some of the soldiers to villa 1922, which Erdoğan was "said" to have used for a meeting. Here were Sefa Toskar — the hotel's trainee private security guard, whom Burak Güzel had earlier told to "go inside and hide" — and one more police bodyguard. The soldiers who took Sefa and this bodyguard brought them over to the other bodyguards. They had made sure that Erdoğan was not in the hotel. They then left the Turban Hotel to board the helicopter waiting for them.

İrfan Paksoy, on the other hand, says that while he was waiting with his team at 1782, before any call to surrender had even been made, the soldiers came and shot Mehmet Çetin. He begins the events with Mehmet Çetin's death. He then makes no mention of anything — of a bomb being placed, of surrendering, of crawling on the ground, of being handcuffed.

In conclusion, İrfan Paksoy's statement is assessed to be unreliable — because he says that Erdoğan, who left the hotel at around 01:15 on 16 July, left at 23:30; because he says that soldiers arriving by helicopter killed Mehmet Çetin while Erdoğan, between 00:04 and 00:55, was making statements in front of the hotel and by connecting to television channels; because there is no blood trace behind, around or in front of the balcony on the front side of villa 1782; and because no one, the bodyguards included, recounts the incident as İrfan Paksoy recounts it.

The Allegation in the Bodyguards' Record

On 18 July, a record was drawn up by the bodyguards who remained at the Turban Hotel even though Erdoğan had leftThe bodyguards' joint record dated 18.07.2016: The bodyguards' joint record dated 18.07.2016, kept by those waiting at the hotel after Erdoğan left.. In this record they recounted, in summary: that Erdoğan and his family members left the hotel at around 01:00; that a helicopter then came while they were preparing for evacuation; that they took up positions in villas 1782 and 1785; that at around 03:00 the soldiers arrived; that a firefight took place between them and the soldiers; that, as the bodyguards were surrendering, two rounds were fired at one of their colleagues outside the villa, with a soldier saying "So you fire on soldiers, Cop, cop!"; that the soldiers handcuffed all the bodyguards and took them into custody; that after the soldiers left they gathered in the villa; that they found Mehmet Çetin on the ground, shot, in front of the villa's balcony; that they called 112; that, as Mehmet Çetin and two other lightly wounded men were being taken to hospital by ambulance, fire was opened from a helicopter on the ambulance and the bodyguards at around 04:15; and that, after this attack, which lasted about an hour, Mehmet Çetin was taken to hospital by ambulance. They recorded that their weapons and various pieces of equipment had gone missing, and signed the record, opening 25 signature spaces.

Before turning to examine the record the bodyguards drew up, let us also touch briefly on the statements that, on 16 July, 8 of the 24 bodyguards remaining after İrfan Paksoy gave. For both İrfan Paksoy and these bodyguards signed the record drawn up on 18 July. Yet in their earlier statements they had recounted some matters differently. For example, although İrfan Paksoy and six of the eight bodyguardsThe remaining two, M. Bayrak and H. Eroğlu, did not give a time on this point. said in their 16 July statements that the President left at 23:30, they also signed the record stating that he left at 01:00. Apart from this, whereas the head of the protection detail, Murat Bayrak, said in his 16 July statement "we gathered in three villas," in the record they said "we gathered in villas 1782 and 1785." Murat Bayrak would later, in his statement of 28 July, again say that they were in three separate areas, stating "we took the direction of the lobby, the shore and villa 1922." That, in statements given a day or two apart, they gave such widely differing answers to clear questions — such as what time the President left and which villa they were in — is not at all reasonable.

Again, before examining the record in detail, let us say this: the court decided that Mehmet Çetin was shot on the balcony of villa 1782, yet this record, kept by the bodyguards in villa 1782, contains no statement to that effect.

Let us now examine the text of the record. The phrases "…upon the approach of military persons in military camouflage clothing, with faces covered, fully equipped, armed with long-barrelled weapons and wearing gas masks…" and "a gas grenade was thrown by the soldiers towards where he was" are striking. For, in the searches carried out on the soldiers themselves, in the hotel area, in the terrain, in the helicopters, and at Çiğli air base — where they collected their equipment before coming to Marmaris — no gas mask or gas grenade was foundMarmaris Crime-Scene Investigation Report (full text): Marmaris Crime-Scene Investigation Report (complete) — not physically appended;. Çiğli Crime-Scene Investigation Report (Ankara Criminalistics): Çiğli Crime-Scene Investigation Report.. Moreover, the crime-scene investigation report recorded only that a hand grenade had been set off beside the balcony of villa 1782. No finding was recorded that a bomb had been thrown anywhere else in the hotelCrime-Scene Investigation Report: the locations of the blood traces at the Turban Hotel: Crime-Scene Investigation Report..

Again, the record contains the phrase: "…as we, the protection personnel, were surrendering one by one, one of the soldiers was heard shouting loudly, addressing one of our colleagues outside the villa, 'So you fire on soldiers, Cop, cop!', and thereupon firing two rounds." None of the 22 bodyguards says in their statements that they themselves were the person at whom one of the soldiers shouted and fired. For this reason, the person meant is probably Mehmet Çetin. However, according to Mehmet Çetin's autopsy, external post-mortem examination and clothing examination, there are at least six hits on his body: one on the arm, two as a graze on the elbow, at least one on the right leg, and two on the back. If all the shots fired are assumed to have hit, then at least six rounds must have been fired. Even if we were to say that four of the shots occurred in the first firefight — Mehmet Çetin being wounded on the balcony — and the other two occurred later, did Mehmet Çetin not so much as cry out "Ah" when he was wounded, that the bodyguards inside the villa made no mention of their colleague's having been wounded in the first firefight? Moreover, the absence of any blood trace belonging to Mehmet Çetin in the vicinity of villa 1782 shows that Mehmet Çetin was not killed outside villa 1782. Accordingly, this matter of two rounds being fired — which does not appear in the nine statements given, again by the bodyguards, on 16 July, and which, apart from Eda Kol Yüksel's statement of 27 July and her declaration in the Robbery trial, will not appear in the later statements either — does not appear consistentThe statements of thirteen presidential bodyguards dated 27 and 28.07.2016: Statements given by thirteen presidential bodyguards on 27 and 28 July 2016..

The record then recounts the events the bodyguards allege took place after the soldiers left the hotel:

"When the uniformed coup soldiers moved away from where the protection personnel were, the protection personnel's handcuffs were removed, and all the personnel gathered again in the villa. Mehmet Çetin was seen lying on the ground, shot, in front of the villa's balcony; first aid was administered at once, 112 was called, and it was requested that they come to the hotel urgently. As the police officers Mehmet ÇETİN, Hamza EROĞLU and Serhat KARAKUŞ were being taken to hospital by the ambulance that had arrived at the scene, at around 04:15 fire was opened from an attack helicopter on the ambulance and on the close-protection personnel who were there. While the attack continued, the ambulance driver abandoned his vehicle and fled the scene, and the ambulance and the wounded inside it came under fire. While this second attack continued, the protection personnel scattered, and, upon the special-operations police officers' arriving at the scene and returning fire against the coup soldiers, the coup soldiers left the scene. This second attack lasted about an hour. When the attack ended, the ambulance driver came to the scene and took the wounded to hospital."

However, this account too does not match the facts. According to the hotel's security-camera footage, the soldiers leave the hotel at around 04:15 (Turban Hotel camera footage showing the departure of the official car and the arrival of the soldiers (from the Digital Forensics department's DVR device examination report) p. 17/21). In the record, on the other hand, it is recounted that the soldiers left, the bodyguards undid their handcuffs, searched for and found Mehmet Çetin, called 112, the ambulance could not come at first because of the firefight, then came, they put the wounded into the ambulance, and then at around 04:15 the helicopter came and opened fire. Because the soldiers left the hotel at around 04:15, it is not possible that Mehmet Çetin had been placed in the ambulance by that time. On top of that, the time the ambulance was first even called for Mehmet Çetin is 04:38. The first ambulance's arrival at the Turban Hotel and swift departure is at around 04:46, and the second ambulance's arrival time is 04:54. The allegation therefore does not match the facts. (Turban Hotel camera footage showing the departure of the official car and the arrival of the soldiers (from the Digital Forensics department's DVR device examination report) pp. 17–19)

The allegation in the record does not fit the helicopter movements either. The soldiers arrived in Marmaris at around 03:03 by three helicopters — two Cougars and one Sikorsky: the Cougar helicopter, with Zeki Göçmen as first pilot, carrying the MAK team under the command of Gökhan Şahin Sönmezateş and Taner Berber; the Cougar helicopter, with Murat Dağlı as first pilot, carrying the MAK team under the command of Zekeriya Kuzu; and the Sikorsky helicopter, with Ali Aktürk as first pilot, carrying the Special Forces team under the command of Şükrü Seymen and two SAT commandos. The movements of these helicopters in Marmaris that night are set out belowThe helicopter movements were determined on the basis of statements, camera footage, the reports made to 112, 155 and 156, social-media posts, and the records of the coast-guard boat that was tracking the defensive helicopters off Marmaris that night.:

The movements of Zeki Göçmen's Cougar helicopter in Marmaris that night:

• 03:05–03:10 Landing attempt at the Turban car park, aborted (go-around).
• 03:20 Landing/descent/troop drop-off in the field behind Casa de Maris.
• 03:20–03:40 Orbit over the hotelsOrbit: holding stationary at low altitude..
• 03:40–04:00 Orbit over the sea.
• 04:00–04:16 Landing in the field behind Casa de Maris, waiting for the team to arrive.
• 04:16 Take-off due to fuel shortage and transit to Imsık.

The movements of Murat Dağlı's Cougar helicopter in Marmaris that night:

• 03:10 Landing/troop drop-off behind Casa de Maris.
• 03:10–03:50 Orbit over the sea.
• 03:50 Transit to Dalaman due to fuel shortage (on learning that the Sikorsky was having a problem at Dalaman, it turned north halfway and transited to Imsık instead).

The movements of the Sikorsky helicopter in Marmaris that night:

• 03:15 Landing/descent/troop drop-off in the field behind Casa de Maris.
• 03:15–03:35 Transit to Dalaman due to fuel shortage.
• 04:45 Refuelling at Dalaman.
• 04:55 Transit from Dalaman to Marmaris to collect the soldiers.
• 05:10–05:30 Hotels area (firefight).
• 05:30–05:50 Transit to Imsık, there being a wounded man aboard the helicopter.

Because the helicopters were experiencing a fuel shortage, they left the area to refuel in turn: the Sikorsky at 03:15, the Cougar flown by Murat Dağlı at 03:50, and finally the Cougar carrying Zeki Göçmen and Gökhan Şahin Sönmezateş at 04:16. From 04:16 to 05:10 there is no helicopter in Marmaris. The record, however, speaks of a helicopter opening fire on the ambulance at 04:15. As we said above, because the soldiers left the hotel at around 04:15, it would not be possible for Mehmet Çetin to have been placed in the ambulance as the soldiers were leaving, so this allegation is inconsistent in terms of timing and sequence of events. Moreover, it is established that the helicopter did not open fire. To collect the soldiers at the Turban Hotel, the helicopter landed in the field behind Casa de Maris and waited from about 04:00 to 04:16. The proof that at 04:16 it took off from behind Casa de Maris and left towards Muğla (the Turban Hotel being in the opposite direction), and that as it left it did not open fire at 04:15 as the bodyguards state in the record, is the camera footage taken on the coast-guard boat at seaCamera footage showing the departure of Zeki Göçmen's Cougar helicopter at 04:16. In the footage it can be seen that there is no finding by the boat personnel that the helicopter opened fire. Link: The Helicopter Leaving Marmaris at 04:16.

In conclusion, the record kept by the bodyguards on 18 July:

• contains obvious inconsistencies when compared with the statements the same bodyguards gave on 16, 27 and 28 July;
• is inconsistent with the crime-scene investigation records;
• the matter of "two rounds being heard fired outside the villa", which is sought to be connected with Mehmet Çetin's death, appears in none of the statements the same bodyguards gave on 16, 27 and 28 July, save one; if the incident happened this way, why did they not recount it so in their statements? Moreover, the allegation of "two rounds being heard fired outside the villa" is inconsistent with the sequence of events and with the wounds Mehmet Çetin sustained;
• the record recounts that, after Mehmet Çetin and the other wounded were put into the ambulance, at around 04:15 a helicopter opened fire on the ambulance carrying the wounded. At around 04:15 there is only one helicopter in Marmaris. It, too, had landed in the field behind the Casa de Maris hotel and was waiting for the soldiers to arrive. However, since its fuel was about to run out, at 04:16 it took off from where it was and, proceeding in the direction opposite the Turban Hotel, transited to Imsık. Not only was it not possible for it to fire on the Turban Hotel, but no finding was made by the coast-guard personnel who filmed these moments that it opened fire.

In short, just like İrfan Paksoy's allegation — the first allegation concerning Mehmet Çetin's death — the bodyguards' allegation in the record kept on 18 July, "as we were surrendering we heard a soldier fire at Mehmet Çetin outside the villa," also does not reflect the truth.

The Allegation in Murat Bayrak's Statement to the Prosecutor

In his statement of 16 July (Murat Bayrak's complainant statement dated 16.07.2016), Murat Bayrak said, with regard to Mehmet Çetin, only that they had found him wounded in front of the balcony of villa 1782. It was İrfan Paksoy — who says he was an eyewitness — who gave the details concerning Mehmet Çetin's death (İrfan Paksoy's complainant statement dated 16.07.2016). Subsequently, in the record signed on 18 July (The bodyguards' joint record dated 18.07.2016), the bodyguards, Murat Bayrak among them, said that they had heard one of the soldiers fire two rounds at a police officer outside the villa and had then found him wounded in front of the balcony of villa 1782; whereas Murat Bayrak, in the statement he gave at the Muğla public prosecutor's office on 28 July 2016 (Murat Bayrak's statement to the public prosecutor's office dated 28.07.2016), made no mention of hearing two shots outside the villa, and instead added that the special-operations police officers Mehmet Çetin and İrfan Paksoy were providing security on the villa balconies. That Murat Bayrak — and İrfan Paksoy too — gave no detail in his statement to the police, said in the record that he heard two shots, and then in his statement to the prosecutor abandoned the shots and said that Mehmet Çetin was on the balcony, is not normal.

The court ultimately, in accordance with this last statement, held that Mehmet Çetin — who was on the balcony of villa 1782 during the first firefight between the soldiers and the bodyguards — was killed by the soldiers. On this:

The first thing that can be said is that there is no blood trace belonging to Mehmet Çetin on the balcony of villa 1782 or in front of the balcony.

Second: if Mehmet Çetin had been shot on the villa balcony during the first firefight, it would not be possible for the bodyguards inside the villa not to have noticed. The common point in all their statements is that they found Mehmet Çetin wounded. Is it possible that, while Murat Bayrak and the other bodyguards were inside the villa, Mehmet Çetin made no sound at all when he was wounded on the balcony — and, if he did make a sound at least when first shot, that those inside the villa did not hear it?

Third: in both his statements — that is, in his 16 and 28 July statements — Murat Bayrak says that, after the soldiers left, they freed themselves from the handcuffs on their wrists at the place to which the soldiers had taken them and took a roll call; that in his first statement he could not account for Mehmet Çetin alone, and in his second statement for Mehmet Çetin and Uğur Göküz; and that Uğur Göküz came later.

In conclusion, this allegation in Murat Bayrak's statement to the prosecutor is likewise seen to be inconsistent.

The Statements of the Head of the Protection Detail, Murat Bayrak

Murat Bayrak's First Statement

Turning to the other bodyguards' statements: immediately after İrfan Paksoy, the commander of the bodyguards present there, the emniyet amiri Murat Bayrak — who gave his statement at the Marmaris District Police Directorate on 16 July between 08:10 and 09:03 — recounts the incident, in summary, as followsMurat Bayrak's complainant statement dated 16.07.2016: Murat Bayrak's complainant statement dated 16.07.2016.:

"After seeing our President off to Dalaman airport by a helicopter belonging to the Presidency, we gathered in three villas so that their evacuation would be easy; late at night I learned from my colleagues that 3–4 helicopters had come; we confirmed that they were military helicopters; I told my colleagues to be ready; we took up position at commanding points; together with Hamza Eroğlu and Süleyman Küççükerdoğan I held the path; when the soldiers came opposite the small hall where their villas were, I warned the soldiers to surrender; they answered my warning with fire; because heavy fire was coming, I told those with me to go into the villa; they threw a fire extinguisher at the entrance of our door and fired; they threw a gas grenade inside; because Hamza Eroğlu was wounded, I surrendered, saying, 'We have a wounded man, let us get the wounded man out.' The soldier whose name I later learned to be Şükrü Seymen began to beat me and to ask where the President was. At this point I was lying face down on the ground. At this point the firefight between the soldiers and my colleagues was continuing. They threw a hand grenade inside; it became extremely bright. Then they threw a hand grenade into the small path where the door was. One by one they cuffed my colleagues behind their backs and brought them beside me. When the soldiers left the hotel and the helicopter sounds ceased, I stood up and called out to my colleagues; the only one I could not reach was Mehmet Çetin; we found Mehmet Çetin in front of the balcony of villa 1782, shot in three places: one bullet in the leg, two bullets in the chest. We spoke with 112, which said it was sending ambulances. We waited in our villas to make an evacuation plan and to give Mehmet Çetin medical aid. After a while 112 came. I sent the driver's colleagues to their vehicle. I told the officers to follow me. We ran towards the villas; at this point the helicopter came and began to fire. We ran in the direction of the lobby. We went into the first villa we saw."

Murat Bayrak's Second Statement

In the statement Murat Bayrak gave as a complainant at the Muğla public prosecutor's office on 28 July 2016Murat Bayrak's complainant statement of 28.07.2016 at the Muğla public prosecutor's office. — which he began by saying, "I had also given a statement to the police on the matter. That statement of mine is also correct." — he recounts the same incident as follows:

"We saw our President off to Dalaman airport by a helicopter belonging to the Prime Ministry at around 01:00. When we heard helicopter sounds over the hotel at 03:15, we took our long-barrelled weapons. At this point we were in villas 1782 and 1785. We took up position in the direction of the hotel lobby, the shore and villa 1922; while I was together with Hamza Eroğlu and Süleyman Küççükerdoğan, when the soldiers came from the direction of the lobby, I warned the soldiers to surrender; they answered my warning with fire; because heavy fire was coming, I told those with me to go into villa 1782; at this point the soldiers threw a gas grenade, and Hamza Eroğlu was wounded. At this point some of our colleagues also went into the villa. However, our Special Operations police colleagues who were providing security on the villa balconies stayed where they were. I heard a voice saying that a bomb would be thrown inside and demanding that we surrender; I surrendered, saying, 'We have a wounded man, let us get the wounded man out.' The soldiers began to beat me and to ask where the President was. At this point I was lying face down on the ground. They had taken me beside the Relax pool, 10–15 metres ahead. At this point the firefight between the soldiers and my colleagues was continuing. They threw a flash grenade; it became extremely bright; I heard the sounds of glass breaking. They also threw a hand grenade towards the balcony. One by one they cuffed my colleagues behind their backs and brought them beside me. When the soldiers left the hotel, we checked everyone. Uğur Göküz and Mehmet Çetin were missing. Uğur came later. Mehmet was on the balcony during the incident. For that reason I went to the vicinity of the balcony, and we found Mehmet Çetin in front of the balcony of villa 1782, shot. We spoke with 112; one of my colleagues said that a 112 staff member said, 'They are not letting us leave here'; but 15 minutes later the ambulance came. They attended to Mehmet Çetin and my two other wounded colleagues. After the ambulances left, we headed to the car park to go to the district police directorate; at this point the helicopter came and began to fire. We ran in the direction of the lobby. We went into the first villa we saw."

When we assess Murat Bayrak's statements together with İrfan Paksoy's, Murat Bayrak says in both his statements that he took a roll call after the soldiers left, and that in his first statement he could not account for Mehmet Çetin alone, and in his second statement for Mehmet Çetin and Uğur Göküz. This too stands before us as a contradiction between the statements, however small. That is, it means that İrfan Paksoy was there. İrfan Paksoy, for his part, says that he saw Mehmet Çetin being shot and went to his colleagues. Although, when the soldiers left, it should have been Paksoy who first looked for and asked after Mehmet Çetin, and who directed the others, Bayrak says that they looked to see who was there and who was not, and noticed that Mehmet Çetin was missing. In that case, why does İrfan Paksoy not say that Mehmet Çetin was shot, while Murat Bayrak is left having to take a roll call?

When we compare Murat Bayrak's statements with each other and with İrfan Paksoy's, inconsistency is seen both between them and with the facts.

That the bodyguards gave untrue statements concerning Mehmet Çetin's death brings to mind that they may have had a hand in the incident.

The Other Bodyguards' Statements of 16 July 2016

On 16 July, at the Marmaris District Police Directorate, seven more police officers gave statements after İrfan Paksoy and Murat Bayrak. They too gave the President's departure time, like İrfan Paksoy, as 23:30. However, unlike İrfan Paksoy, they gave the time of the soldiers' arrival by helicopter as around 03:00–03:30.

In addition, the bodyguards who gave statements on 16 July 2016 said that they had served at the Turban Hotel as a protection team of 25. Their commander Murat Bayrak, who gave a statement at the prosecutor's office on 28 July, also said, "We were serving as a team of 25–26 in total."

On 18 July, a record was drawn up by the bodyguards who remained at the Turban Hotel even though Erdoğan had leftThe bodyguards' joint record dated 18.07.2016: The bodyguards' joint record dated 18.07.2016, kept by those waiting at the hotel after Erdoğan left.. In keeping with the phrase in the bodyguards' 16 July statements, "we served as a protection team of 25," the record bore 25 signatures. However, the women bodyguards Duygu Yılmaz and Eda Kol Yüksel had signed twice. That is, the record had 23 different signatures plus the women bodyguards' second signatures, for a total of 25 signatures. Although the women bodyguards signed at positions 12 and 18, they had also signed the 24th and 25th signatures — presumably to bring the number of signatures up to 25. The registry number and signature at positions 12 and 24 are the same and belong to Eda Kol Yüksel; the registry number and signature at positions 18 and 25 are the same and belong to Duygu Yılmaz.

Although this matter was raised in court by one of the accused, Mehmet ÖztürkMarmaris 15 July Trial, Reasoned Judgment (Muğla 2nd Assize Court, Case No. 2016/277, Decision No. 2017/253): Reasoned Judgment, p. 729 — Mehmet Öztürk's statement in court concerning the inconsistencies in the signatures., the women bodyguards' having signed twice, and why no statement was taken from Bülent Yalçın, whose signature is on the record, were not investigated by the court.

The record bore the signatures of 23 people. Although statements were taken from the other 22 bodyguards, no statement was taken from Bülent Yalçın, who signed the record. Moreover, that only 22 people gave statements although they said they were 25 raised the suspicion that there were three people who declined to give statements so as not to fall within the scope of the investigation.

For example, immediately after the incident, which ended on the morning of 16 July, the presidential bodyguard Ümit Mergen — who conducted a search at the scene — handed over to the District Police Directorate the materials he stated he had found inside a rubbish bag, and the record concerning this was signed at 08:55The Seizure Record concerning the materials Ümit Mergen handed over: The Seizure Record concerning the materials Ümit Mergen handed over to the Marmaris District Police Directorate (18.07.2016).. Was the presidential bodyguard Ümit Mergen, who conducted a search at the scene immediately after the incident, one of the 25 bodyguards who remained at the hotel — and if so, why did he not give a statement?

Again, on the morning of 16 July, following the incident, at around 09:20, Enver Çoban, of the presidential protection team, served as an identification witness at the external post-mortem examination for Mehmet Çetin, killed in the line of dutyExternal Post-mortem Examination and Autopsy Record (Mehmet Çetin & Nedip Cengiz Eker, 16.07.2016, Marmaris): The External Post-mortem Examination and Autopsy Record drawn up for Mehmet Çetin and Nedip Cengiz Eker.. What was Enver Çoban — who says he was on duty elsewhere during the incident — doing in Marmaris at 09:20; or was he one of the three people who avoided giving a statement?

The record stated that the President "was evacuated at around 01:00." This record was also signed by İrfan Paksoy and seven police officers — who in their 16 July statements said that the President left at 23:30. Again, the record gave the time at which the helicopter brought the soldiers as around 03:00. Although İrfan Paksoy had earlier said between 00:00 and 00:30, he had signed the record stating that this time was around 03:00. Moreover, in the record the events were recounted essentially in a manner similar to Murat Bayrak's 16 July statement. Whereas Murat Bayrak and the other seven police officers who gave statements did not, in their 16 July statements, mention how Mehmet Çetin was killed, in this record, which they kept jointly, they put on record — differently from İrfan Paksoy, who says he was the sole eyewitness to the incident, and from the court's reasoned judgment — that, as the bodyguards were surrendering, they heard a soldier shout loudly, addressing one of their colleagues outside the villa, "So you fire on soldiers, Cop, cop!", and thereupon fire two roundsThe bodyguards' joint record dated 18.07.2016: The bodyguards' joint record dated 18.07.2016, kept by those waiting at the hotel after Erdoğan left.. İrfan Paksoy signed this record, which does not match the account in the statement he himself gave on 16 July.