Fugitive prime suspect of coup attempt in Turkey was called by US Consulate, officials say

Alleged by Turkey’s government officials as one of the chief plotters of the failed coup attempt, college professor Adil Öksüz had been called by US Consulate in İstanbul, according to latest official statements.

As Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office released a statement claiming the fugitive coup suspect ‘Adil Öksüz was called, on 21 July 2017 at 10:22, from a phone number registered under US Consulate’, US officials replied to the claims with a written statement.

Released by Embassy of USA to Turkey today (March 29), the statement read as: “As a direct result of close U.S.-Turkish law enforcement cooperation, a call from the U.S. Consulate General Istanbul to a phone belonging to Adil Öksüz on July 21, 2016 did occur. On that day, the Turkish National Police called the U.S. Mission Turkey to request our assistance in preventing Adil Öksüz from fleeing Turkey. We then revoked his U.S. visa and, as required by U.S. law, tried to call him to inform him of the cancellation. Far from being suspicious, the call from the Consulate General illustrates the close U.S.- Turkish law enforcement cooperation following the coup attempt.”

A professor who had taught in Turkey’s Sakarya University, Adil Öksüz was briefly taken into custody at Akıncılar Base in Ankara on the night of the July 15 coup attempt and released. Claiming later that Öksüz was the ‘İmam of the Air Force’, Turkey’s officials issued a warrant of arrest against him.

Listed by Turkey’s Interior Ministry as one of the ‘mostly wanted suspects of the coup’, Öksüz has been missing since the attempt. Mysteries about his connection to the Gülen movement, which the government of Turkey claims as the mastermind behind the coup attempt, and why he was released on that night have still not been solved.

Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/abd-den-adil-oksuz-aciklamasi-evet-aradik-ama-153184.html