Prosecutors accuse FETÖ-linked company of funding coup officer

Prosecutors have accused two brothers, who ran a business empire linked to FETÖ, of sending TL 6 million to a senior military officer who played a major role in the July 15 coup attempt blamed on the terror cult.

The Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) has long been accused by authorities of masterminding the July 15 coup attempt that left 248 people dead and new evidence shows close ties between the terrorist group and soldiers who joined the putsch bid.

An indictment by the Diyarbakır Chief Prosecutor's Office says Memduh and Bekir Boydak, two brothers who ran a family-owned conglomerate linked to the terror cult, transferred TL 6 million ($1.65 million) to Col. Bülent Gürdoğan, a pro-coup officer.

Gürdoğan was the commander of an air force unit deployed in the city and is accused of arranging the fateful flight for Gen. Semih Terzi. Terzi flew to the capital Ankara on July 15 with the purpose of capturing the Special Forces, an elite branch of the army critical for the putschists, but was killed by an anti-coup officer as he arrived at the command center with his unit.

Prosecutors say the Boydak brothers made two money transfers to Gürdoğan that amounted to TL 6 million while Gürdoğan sent the same amount to Şükrü Boydak, another member of the family. The transfers were already cited by a report prepared by a financial crimes investigation department looking into FETÖ's financing.

Memduh Boydak remains in custody for his links to FETÖ while Bekir Boydak has been released following an earlier hearing for a separate case related to the terrorist group.

Gürdoğan was jailed following the coup attempt that saw pro-coup troops almost all across Turkey trying to take over strategic locations. He is among the thousands of military officers, including those who commanded the putsch bid, who were arrested after a strong public resistance aided by police and anti-coup troops ended the putsch.

Gürdoğan and several generals deployed in Diyarbakır face three instances of life imprisonment and lesser prison terms for the coup attempt and membership to FETÖ, which was designated as "a national threat" by the state after two disguised coup attempts in 2013.

Authorities have seized Boydak Holding, which owns a flagship furniture company as well as energy investments, after a scheme to fund the terror cult was revealed by the investigators. The conglomerate's top executives, mostly members of the Boydak family, remain in custody.

The Boydak family has previously defended their ties to Gürdoğan by telling investigators that Bülent Gürdoğan's father owned a company where they worked together in a business venture, though it remains unclear why the officer was involved in the transactions of his father's company.

In a written statement on Friday, lawyers for the family said Gürdoğan had shares in Hes Hacılar Elektrik, a company the family also had shares, and the transfer of TL 6 million was a legal transaction between shareholders and was nothing suspicious. The statement said Gürdoğan left the business partnership by transferring his shares to Boydak family members.

The prosecutors say Gürdoğan contacted a general in the capital Ankara to get approval for the flight of Semih Terzi on July 15 when a colonel, who commands the military base where Terzi had flown from, refused to authorize the flight. Evidence also shows Gürdoğan repeatedly had phone conversations with pro-coup officers during the putsch bid. Pro-coup general Terzi, who is believed to be among the 38 people who would be in a coup council if it had succeeded, managed to secure two military planes then took them to Ankara.

Gürdoğan is accused of trying to convince other officers to authorize the flight, claiming Terzi would "provide backup for anti-coup soldiers." Gürdoğan is also accused of threatening other soldiers who were detained for the coup attempt before they were released due to lack of evidence.

A defendant who was acquitted of coup charges told investigators that Gürdoğan and another pro-coup officer in jail with him, threatened him.

The defendant, a military pilot who proved he joined the anti-coup efforts, said Gürdoğan and the other officer told him he would be back in prison when "the government collapses" and repeatedly said they would be released "soon."

The coup plotters face a barrage of trials and multiple life sentences. In the ongoing trials, prosecutors are seeking multiple life sentences for the officers involved in the putsch as well as for FETÖ leader Fetullah Gülen, who currently resides in the United States, and his point men including Adil Öksüz, a fugitive lecturer who masterminded the coup with FETÖ infiltrators in the army.

In a related development, prosecutors in Ankara unveiled on Friday a new indictment against FETÖ and its ties to the coup. The indictment, on FETÖ infiltrators in the Turkish Air Forces, says "imams," or point men, of FETÖ who relayed the terror cult's orders to officers tied to the group were mostly "teachers."

It says Levent Çakmaktepe, a teacher, was commanding the terror cult's followers in Ankara while Murat Kara, a physics teacher, was controlling the military officers at Akıncı, a military air base that was used as the command center for the putschists on July 15. It was also there that Adil Öksüz, a senior imam for FETÖ, was captured during the putsch bid.