Central Party (Merkez Parti) Chairman Abdurrahim Karslı has claimed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and top state officials were informed about preparations in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) for a military coup attempt one month before an abortive putsch on July 15, 2016 but said they deliberately took no action.
In a series of tweets on Thursday, Karslı said he spoke to someone who had served in a number of important state posts and that this person told him they informed the highest state bodies in writing and verbally at least one month before July 15 that there would be a coup attempt.
Karslı did not reveal the name of the state official.
He said the person also told him that Erdoğan and then-Chief of General Staff and current Defense Minister Hulusi Akar were informed about the preparations for a coup attempt but that they took no action to prevent it.
The military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 killed 249 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the failed putsch the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
On the pretext of an anti-coup fight, more than 130,000 people were removed from state jobs while in excess of 30,000 others are still in jail and some 600,000 people have been investigated on allegations of terrorism.
The extent of the purges and some controversial incidents before, during and after the coup attempt have led many to think that Erdoğan was involved in the coup attempt or knew about it in advance but did not take any action in order to make the purge of such a large number of people possible and to capitalize on the coup attempt to be able to stay in power.
