Soldiers ordered to grab Erdogan voice 'fear' over coup

By Mustafa Yildirim

IZMIR, Turkey (AA) – Two alleged coup soldiers have revealed details of a plan to seize Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a holiday resort during Friday’s failed coup attempt that killed at least 246 people in Turkey.

Footage obtained by Anadolu Agency from Izmir Police Headquarters on Thursday shows the testimony of two sergeants from the second main jet base command in Turkey's Aegean province of Izmir.

Speaking to the police, both sergeants explain they were told to capture a "ringleader of a terrorist organization" and that they were "not aware of the coup attempt" until it was too late.

Sergeant Selman Cankaya said he was "shocked and scared and did not know what to do" after he learned a group within the Turkish army had attempted to stage a coup, which sought to overthrow the democratically elected government and even assassinate Erdogan.

Claiming he did not know he was being deployed to the hotel in southwestern Marmaris where Erdogan and his family were vacationing, Cankaya said he was driving a helicopter at the time of the coup attempt.

Cankaya said he even thought about crashing the helicopter but did not have "the courage to kill his friends" who were also in it.

Sergeant Serkan Elci said he was also ordered to capture a "terrorist ringleader" during a mission that he was told he might not survive.

Elci said the location of the so-called mission changed and that it was "only just a hotel with lots of villas in it". He said he was ordered to check all the villas.

He said a police officer asked the soldiers to call an ambulance, saying there was an injured person inside the holiday resort after a clash broke out.

"I told this to the other team. Before I got an answer on this [issue], a major came out and told us we needed to leave immediately," Elci said.

The major had told Elci and the other soldiers that police teams were coming to the resort and that they would fire on them.

A clash later broke out, killing Erdogan’s two bodyguards and injuring seven others.

Erdogan told CNN in an exclusive interview: "If I stayed 10 or 15 more minutes there, I would have been killed or captured."

The Turkish government has said the failed coup was organized by followers of U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen, who is accused of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through supporters within Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming what is commonly known as the parallel state.