A full decade since the bloody coup attempt that reshaped Turkey, Berat Albayrak, the influential son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has broken a long silence to offer a dramatic, inside-the-cockpit account of the night that defined the country’s current political era.

Speaking at a commemorative forum in Istanbul entitled "Remembering July 15 on the 10th Anniversary," the ex-finance minister revealed that one of the two pilots who flew Erdogan’s plane during the chaotic events was a member of the Gulenist movement (Feto), the group Ankara blames for the failed putsch.

According to Albayrak, the pilot actively attempted to divert the presidential aircraft away from Istanbul’s then main airport, Ataturk Airport on the Marmara Sea coast of Bakirkoy district on the European side of the city. His account points to a high-stakes psychological battle in the sky while tanks rolled through the streets below.

A cockpit divided

On the night of July 15, 2016, according to the official account, Erdogan’s Istanbul-bound jet took off from the coastal resort of Marmaris, where the president had narrowly escaped a team of assassins.

Albayrak, who was on board, said the crew was compromised: "We learned later that one of the two pilots in the aircraft that night was a Feto member. He was trying to direct us elsewhere."

The provided recollection is that as the aircraft neared Istanbul, the pilot claimed that landing at Ataturk International Airport would be too dangerous, given reports that the runway was pitch-black and potentially blocked by heavy trucks. It is said that the pilot urged a plane diversion to Sabiha Gokcen Airport on Istanbul’s Asian side.

Albayrak, known for his volatile tenure as finance minister and close proximity to the seat of power, apparently intervened. Knowing that Sabiha Gokcen was already under the sway of putschists, he, by his account, contacted loyalist security forces on the ground to confirm that Ataturk Airport had been cleared of rebel soldiers.

"I got fired up again," Albayrak recalled. "I called our director, Mustafa, immediately... He told me, 'Don't worry, the job is done.' I spoke to the president, and that is how we landed."

Mustafa Caliskan (@Dr_Mcaliskan) served as Istanbul police chief between 2014 and 2020 before being appointed as deputy general manager at the police directorate in Ankara.

‘Many closely guarded secrets from that night will go to grave with us’

The revelatory remarks of Albayrak underscore the deep paranoia and systemic infiltration that defined the Turkish state in the summer of 2016. The coup attempt resulted in the deaths of over 250 people and triggered a massive, years-long purge of the military, judiciary and civil service.

For Albayrak, who has largely retreated from public life since his abrupt resignation from the finance ministry in late 2020, the forum was a rare moment in the spotlight. He hinted that many crucial details of that night remain classified or closely guarded by the presidency.

"There are many things from that night that will go to the grave with us," Albayrak told the audience, adding: "Some we remember, some we have forgotten, and there are things that will only be revealed when the day comes."

Myth of July 15

Albayrak’s speech also touched on the profound civic mobilisation that ultimately thwarted the military faction, framing the public resistance as a moment of divine intervention.

"If I had told my friends the day before, 'Let’s meet on the bridge at nine tomorrow to stop a coup, but there will be tanks and we will go empty-handed,' I don't know how many would have come," Albayrak also said.

"But that night, with a sense of divine tranquility [sekine] that descended from above, millions of people took to the field with their bare hands," he added.

For the government, reinforcing the narrative of the July 15 triumph over adversity remains central to its political legitimacy. Ten years on, the stories of what happened in the skies and on the streets continue to serve as the bedrock of Turkey's contemporary state identity.

Attempt at putsch 'deliberately not prevented'

Tweet by @nasuhmahruki.

On July 16, Nasuh Mahruki (@nasuhmahruki), a former mountaineer and columnist, was, meanwhile, detained after writing on X:

"July 15 was a coup attempt that had been noticed in advance but was deliberately not prevented, and was allowed to proceed in a controlled manner, as it was seen as an opportunity for regime change.

The main planner was the US; it sacrificed the Bishop to take the Queen, put Erdogan in check, and checkmated the Turkish nation."

On July 17, prosecutors demanded official arrest for him.

Tweet: Kemal Okuyan, head of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), was not arrested.