Yavuz Ekrem Arslan was the Commander of the First Infantry Training Brigade in Manisa. He was promoted to Brigadier General with the Supreme Military Council in 2012. He took annual leave on July 2, 2016 and went to Izmir Gumuldur with his family for a vacation on July 6. He learned about the events and the coup attempt on the evening of July 15, 2016, only through the phone of a family member. Although he thought that the events he followed on television could not be a coup, he called his Brigade as part of his responsibility and made sure that everything was alright. The unit he commanded was already a place where recruits received their basic military training, not a war command.

HE LEARNED ABOUT JULY 15 ON HOLIDAY, GAVE THE ORDER OF’NOT TO LEAVE THE BRIGADE’

However, as soon as he received the call that all leaves were canceled and he had to return to duty, he immediately set out for Manisa with his son-in-law. Speaking to the Governor on the way and saying that he did not know about the events yet, the Brigadier General called the Commander he had assigned to look after him and warned him, “Don’t take any action before I come.” He gave orders that absolutely no equipment should be given to anyone and that no one should leave the Brigade, including for illness. He showed maximum sensitivity to avoid confrontation with the public. He ordered that even the soldiers standing guard for the brigade should be withdrawn from sight in order to prevent any bad situation that could occur.
The Commander, who came to the Manisa First Infantry Training Brigade at around 01:20 at night, saw the “so-called coup” order and said, “This is a lie, it’s pure nonsense” and threw this order away in front of his subordinates. The report written and signed by the Commander of the Training Corps at the time, Lieutenant General Faruk Sengun, on the night of July 15, confirmed this information. Sengun had instructed 5 training brigades, including the unit under the command of Yavuz Ekrem Arslan, not to obey the “so-called coup” order and not to bring personnel, weapons, equipment out of the barracks in any way. And Arslan, without hesitation, replied to this instruction as ‘you order’.

THE DETENTION ORDER IN THE MORNING
That night, Arslan also talked with the Aegean Army Commander General Abdullah Recep, the highest military official in the region, and explained the measures he had taken. Arslan, who had been in talks throughout the night, learned about the detention decision about him in the morning and went to the Manisa Courthouse at around 8.30 am. Faced with an unexpected accusation, the Commander got worse and was taken to Manisa State Hospital. After two hours of treatment, he was taken into custody again. He was accused of ‘attempting to overthrow the government’ because his name on the list allegedly prepared on behalf of the ‘Peace at Home Council’ as ‘Manisa Martial Law Deputy Commander’. Although he tried to explain that the list was made in his absence, he was arrested on 19 July 2016 and sent to the F-type prison in Izmir Buca.
Yavuz Ekrem Arslan, who was on vacation with his family on the day of the events, had not experienced a single military activity in the Brigade under his command, and gave the information that everything was under control in the conversations he had with his superiors throughout the night was arrested without any information, document or evidence after the detention, to which he personally surrendered.

THE SLANDER OF THE AKP PROVINCIAL PRESIDENT; ‘WE ARE POLITICIANS, WE SAY IT’

AKP Manisa Provincial Chairperson Zulfikar Gurcan made a slander in his statement after the coup, claiming that Arslan called Police Chief Fevzi Bilgiç and said, “We have taken over the administration, obey us”. Gurcan targeted Brigade Commander Arslan on the political ground and said, “In this context, the Office of the Chief Public Prosecutor took action immediately and our Office of the Chief Public Prosecutor had given the necessary detention order. We immediately mobilized the security at the Garrison Command to implement this detention order. We have mobilized our entire organization while these things are being done. We stood up everyone we could reach. We have invited everyone to take care of their democracy, their hometown. We marched in order to show the necessary intimidation and the will of this nation to protect this homeland.”

THE POLICE CHIEF DENIED THE PROVINCIAL CHAIRPERSON

However, Police Chief Fevzi Bilgiç denied this claim about Arslan. He explained that his meeting with Arslan was not like the way mentioned, but about crisis management, and that the truth was distorted: “He added one word, some other also added a few words. We had talked, but these are exaggerated. We had a meeting in a bureaucratic environment in the name of managing the crisis. I also don’t know where this is reflected from. This was said by AK Party Provincial Chairman Zulfikar Gurcan in this way. And I said to him, ‘My chairman, I didn’t say anything like that, where did you get these?’ And he said ‘I say. We are politicians,’ And I couldn’t say anything. This is all exaggerated. My morality does not allow me swearing at the brigade commander. It’s not a nice thing to do.”

THE PROSECUTOR INSISTED ON THE LIE

Although Police Chief Fevzi Bilgic explained the inside of the incident, the then Public Prosecutor Akif Celalettin Simsek did not see any problem in continuing the same lie. Repeating the same claims as if they were true, Simsek said, “We have enough evidence and findings to satisfy us. These will already be filled in in the future,” he said, but no evidence has ever been put forward to fill out the charges.

HE DIED WHEN HIS HEALTH DROPPED BY INJUSTICE EXPEL AND ARREST
Brigadier General Arslan, who was arrested in a hurry, entered the process that would lead him to death without knowing what he was accused of. And he was also expelled from the Turkish Armed Forces by a decree-law issued on July 27, 2016. Losing his rank and all his social rights, Arslan could not digest the treatment he was treated and his health began to deteriorate in a short time in prison. Some problems that emerged after the gallbladder surgery he had in 2011 also recurred in this process.

Arslan, who suffered from severe weight loss and dropped below 50 kilos, was hospitalized when his condition worsened day by day. The doctors issued a report for him on February 24, 2017 that there was a “risk of death”. However, the Manisa Magistrate’s Office decided to release Arslan for health reasons only a month later, on March 31, 2017. Arslan was treated at the same hospital until May and was taken to Gulhane Military Medical Academy (GATA) in Ankara. According to a relative, he had become ‘smaller, his arms were the size of the arms of a 6-7-year-old boy’. Arslan, whose treatment did not give results, died on November 6, 2017 in GATA.

The indictment against Arslan, who was arrested on the grounds that “we have enough evidence” after 15 July, was imprisoned for 259 days and then treated for 219 days in GATA, was not prepared until his death. Following his death, the court decided not to prosecute Arslan, who could not find out what he was accused of. Before his death, all the efforts of his children Aslı Arslan and Bilal Can Arslan to prove their father’s innocence were also fruitless.
SOURCES:
https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/sedat-ergin/batidan-uzaklasma-yonelisi-turkiyeyi-nereye-goturur-41991057
https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/sedat-ergin/sorusturmayi-uzatmanin-bedeli-40640141?utm_source=gazeteoku&utm_medium=referral
https://odatv4.com/makale/hayir..-o-general-sessizce-olmedi…-1111171200-127167
https://www.manisadabugun.com/gundem/tutuklanan-tuggeneral-arslanin-oglu-bilal-can-arslan-alnimiz-ak-vicdanimiz-rahat-h13640.html
http://www.manisaolaygazetesi.com/gundem/bu-kez-de-kizi-konustu-h6418.html