Martyr's wife slams TRT drama for distorting coup attempt narrative, faces accusations of 'FETÖ rhetoric'

Ceylan Ertürk, the widow of Colonel Sait Ertürk, a martyr of the 2016 coup attempt, has voiced strong objections to a dramatic documentary series aired by TRT, alleging significant historical inaccuracies in its portrayal of her husband's final moments. The series, titled 'Asırlık Gece' (Centuries-Old Night), adapted from a book by President Erdoğan's lawyer, depicted Ertürk's story in its tenth episode.

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If you had done your job properly, wouldn't that have been enough? You didn't get a single thing right. You didn't place the reenactments or the people correctly. I don't know where to begin or how to explain it. If they had bothered to watch just one interview, that would have been something. In times like these, I wish Sait could come back and explain everything precisely… nothing more, nothing less.

Ertürk expressed her disappointment on social media, stating that the series failed to accurately represent the events or the individuals involved. She pointed out discrepancies in the timeline, the order of events, and the specific details of the conflict. According to Ertürk, the series incorrectly placed certain individuals and events, and misrepresented the location of her husband's fatal wound, stating he was shot in the right arm, not the head as implied by the show.

She further elaborated that the sequence of events, including the arrival of police officer Serdar Gökbayrak and the exact circumstances of the clash at the military barracks, were distorted. Ertürk mentioned that she had been offered a chance to provide her testimony for the series but declined due to concerns about potential misrepresentation. Her brother-in-law, İsmail Ertürk, and she had previously shared their accounts of the night in interviews.

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The timing and involvement of individuals in the events have been jumbled like cotton in a sieve. The order of events, how they went to the brigade, the dialogues, the times – none of it aligns with reality. Our brother, police officer Serdar Gökbayrak, who actually arrived at the barracks just before dawn, right before the clashes, was included at the very beginning of the series. Brother Gökbayrak was shot in the head. My husband was not shot in the head, but in the right arm. The clash area and its nature are completely wrong. When there's a real event, if you're making a documentary, you must tell everything as it is.

Following Ertürk's criticism, some social media users accused her of adopting the rhetoric of FETÖ (the group Ankara blames for the 2016 coup attempt) and of not being a fitting spouse for a hero. Others suggested her actions were politically motivated. These accusations have drawn significant backlash, with many defending Ertürk's pursuit of historical accuracy in the depiction of her husband's sacrifice.

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I read all of it, and while reading, I couldn't find it fitting for the wife of a hero who prevented the treacherous coup attempt of July 15. The statement 'what is narrated has nothing to do with what happened' is the discourse of FETÖ members, it's speaking with the mouths of the terrorists of that night. It is not fitting for the wife of a noble hero.