Saturday, July 19, 2025
Nordic Monitor
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
Nordic Monitor
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
  • About Us

Turkey considers English language study notes to be criminal evidence in coup trials

April 29, 2021
A A
Turkey considers English language study notes to be criminal evidence in coup trials
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

 

Abdullah Bozkurt

 

A Turkish prosecutor presented study notes for English language skills written by an officer in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) as evidence of a coup attempt against the Islamist government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

According to secret police and prosecutor documents obtained by Nordic Monitor, Maj. Ahmet Albayrak, who was working at the General Staff, was charged with attempting to topple the government based on his study notes for improving his English language skills.

Albayrak, department chief of the Planning and Administration Bureau at the General Staff when the abortive coup took place on July 15, 2016, appeared to have played no role whatsoever in the limited military mobilization. He locked himself in his office when a gunfight erupted at General Staff headquarters and stayed indoors overnight to protect himself from any harm.

Yet he was detained on coup charges, formally arrested and indicted. The nine-page evidentiary report presented to the prosecutor’s office by Hakan Duman, head of the counterterrorism unit at the Ankara Police Department, against Maj. Albayrak in October 2016 included various notes found in his desk in office No. 87. Nothing seems out of the ordinary among the notes that became part of the prosecutor’s criminal investigation under case file No. 2016/ 116281.

 

One of many pages of English language study notes over which Maj. Albayrak faces aggravated life in a Turkish prison.

 

The handwritten notes suggest the major was trying to familiarize himself with idioms and everyday spoken English for various occasions such as going to a concert, staying in a hotel, making or changing reservations, driving on the freeway, vacationing, buying a computer, explaining something about himself, seeing old friends, adopting a pet and more. Most were explained in simple English, but occasionally he wrote Turkish translations as well.

Albayrak is being tried at the Ankara 17th High Criminal Court and faces life in prison if convicted. He was working as a project officer who followed legal matters at the General Staff. On the night of the coup, he and other officers were instructed to stay late at headquarters to attend a meeting for an upcoming Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) meeting in August. In a court hearing in September 2018, he testified that a shuttle bus was arranged at 23.30 hours for all who stayed late to go home after the meeting.

When he went to the conference room at around 20.00 hours, he said he saw other officers in his department who were involved in preparing for the YAŞ meeting. However, Col. Albay Cemil Turhan came in to alert everybody in the room that there was a threat of a terrorist attack on the headquarters and ordered them to take up arms and secure the perimeter. Albayrak said he went to his office and stayed there overnight to keep away from any gunfight. He played no role in the coup bid; yet, he was arrested and put in Sincan Prison, from where he has been trying to make his case heard with the hope of acquittal and release.

The evidentiary report including these handwritten study notes was prepared on October 13, 2016 by three police officers in the counterterrorism department. The report is one of many indicators that show how criminal trials are being conducted in Turkey, where an Islamist government has been fanning xenophobic sentiment among the population with conspiracy theories that lack any evidence.

Using the putschist attempt as a pretext, Erdoğan purged and/or jailed half of the generals from NATO’s second largest army in terms of manpower. Thousands of officers were removed from the TSK and were replaced by neo-nationalists and Islamists who are bent on doing the dirty bidding of the Erdoğan government.

The full eight-page evidentiary report is posted below:

 

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Erdoğan purged or jailed Turkish generals who served at NATO or in allied nations

Next Post

Gov’t-critic Gülen indicted for saying Erdoğan aided and abetted ISIL, al-Nusra in Syria

Abdullah Bozkurt

Abdullah Bozkurt

[email protected]

Next Post
Secret military intel shows most foreign jihadists let go in Turkey after detention

Gov't-critic Gülen indicted for saying Erdoğan aided and abetted ISIL, al-Nusra in Syria

UAE and Turkey agree to protect data in secret defense projects

UAE and Turkey agree to protect data in secret defense projects

July 18, 2025
Secret documents reveal abuse of Interpol mechanisms by Turkish government

Turkey secretly plots to bypass INTERPOL rules to target exiled journalist in Sweden

July 17, 2025
UN working group declares 2016 coup allegations baseless, undermining Erdogan’s narrative

Erdogan gov’t accused of hiding a coup report to cover up evidence of false flag operation

July 16, 2025
Erdoğan’s propaganda office claims he is Turkey’s greatest, most powerful brand

Erdogan ousts powerful propaganda chief amid intelligence power play

July 15, 2025
Turkish spy agency steps up recruitment of informants among diaspora during holiday season

Turkish spy agency steps up recruitment of informants among diaspora during holiday season

July 14, 2025
Turkish military fails to explain deaths of 12 soldiers in Iraq cave operation

Turkish military fails to explain deaths of 12 soldiers in Iraq cave operation

July 11, 2025
US lawsuit exposes Turkey-based Ponzi scheme tied to Syrian opposition figure

US lawsuit exposes Turkey-based Ponzi scheme tied to Syrian opposition figure

July 10, 2025
US indictment exposes Turkish link in global drug trafficking network

US indictment exposes Turkish link in global drug trafficking network

July 9, 2025
Turkish military lacks qualified officers to be promoted to general

Turkey’s army struggles with staff officer crisis, turns to aging generals for relief

July 8, 2025
US lawmakers target Turkey’s classification, triggering pushback from Erdogan gov’t

US lawmakers target Turkey’s classification, triggering pushback from Erdogan gov’t

July 7, 2025

Nordic Monitor

Nordic Monitor is a news web site and tracking site that is run by the Stockholm-based Nordic Research and Monitoring Network. It covers religious, ideological and ethnic extremist movements and radical groups, with a special focus on Turkey.

Tags

al-Qaeda Andrei Karlov China coup Cyprus Diyanet Egypt espionage Germany Greece Gülen Movement Hakan Fidan Hamas Hulusi Akar Ibrahim Kalın IHH Iran IRGC Quds Force ISIL ISIS Isis al-qaida Israel Libya Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı MIT Muslim Brotherhood NATO President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Profiling Qatar Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Russia SADAT spying Spying Activities Suleyman Soylu Sweden Syria Torture Turkey Turkish Intelligence Agency Turkish intelligence agency MIT Ukraine United States

Recent News

UAE and Turkey agree to protect data in secret defense projects

UAE and Turkey agree to protect data in secret defense projects

July 18, 2025
Secret documents reveal abuse of Interpol mechanisms by Turkish government

Turkey secretly plots to bypass INTERPOL rules to target exiled journalist in Sweden

July 17, 2025
UN working group declares 2016 coup allegations baseless, undermining Erdogan’s narrative

Erdogan gov’t accused of hiding a coup report to cover up evidence of false flag operation

July 16, 2025

Copyright © Nordic Research and Monitoring Network All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us

Copyright © Nordic Research and Monitoring Network All rights reserved.