Turkish protester blames fake officer for gunfire

By Yesim Sert Karasalan

ANKARA (AA) - A Turkish man shot and injured during the July 15 coup attempt says an officer who gave an order to open fire “did not look like a real soldier”.

Speaking on Wednesday in an Ankara hospital, 68-year-old Ali Yilmaz had responded to a call from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resist the military coup attempt and had been protesting at the Turkish General Army Headquarters in Ankara.

Now recovering from a chest wound, the retired civil servant from the Ministry of Justice said he entered the military building at around 2.00 a.m. (2300 GMT). As protesters entered the HQ’s second floor, a high-ranking officer gave an order to open fire.

“The first bullet was fired at me but they did not look like real soldiers because I saw around 50 other soldiers on the same floor but they didn’t hurt [our] group,” Yilmaz said.

Yilmaz said the officer who gave the order “did not look like a real soldier because his uniform did not fit on his body and his hair looked like a wig”.

The injured man said he did not believe Turkish soldiers would shoot innocent civilians. "My soldier would not fire on me. The one who shot me... I believe he was not an officer. The one who fired on me was not a soldier."

Friday's coup attempt saw rogue elements of the Turkish military try to overthrow the country's democratically elected government.

Turkey's government has said the attempted 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.

The failed coup left at least 240 people martyred, including 62 police officers, five soldiers and 173 civilians. Approximately 1,500 people were injured.

*Anadolu Agency Correspondent Hatice Kesgin contributed to this report from Ankara.