Army pilot Lieutenant Serkan Çoban, who refused to take off with the helicopter which was going to be used to attack the hotel in Marmaris, Muğla where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was staying, hindered the plans of putschists during the FETÖ’s coup attempt.
Serkan was called in for duty on the evening of July 15th although he was scheduled to work later, he received an order regarding, “manning the helicopter” quite early because of a “VIP flight” to be carried out that night. Leaving for duty upon the order, Çoban tried to get information before the flight, yet, no one responded. Then pilots were issued a second order to stay home until 22:00.
Trackers were shut down.
Implementing the required pre-flight checks after the order of “Man the helicopters” was issued by Colonel Murat Dağlı who returned to the garrison before his flight time. The squad also turned off the trackers with the order. Afterwards, three helicopters followed Colonel Dağlı and landed in 2nd Çiğli Main Jet Base by communicating through a certain frequency.
Colonel Dağlı, who gave an order to army pilot Lieutenant Colonel Bahattin Akgül, gave the mission to Serkan after malfunction occurred in their helicopter. Serkan, who did not hear any conversation due to being in the helicopter until that moment, was scrupulous about the situation.
“I will not fly”
Çoban, while they were landing in the Aegean Army, saw a notification on his phone saying, “There is a declaration of a coup being read on TRT,” but he could not go into details for flight safety reasons. Suspecting even further after seeing armed squads when they landed in Çiğili, Serkan decided not to fly for the putschist soldiers who he thought were going to do something illegal. Serkan, as the helicopters were being prepared on the heliport, switched off the engines without notifying the senior pilot. Subsequently, the senior pilot asked him what he was doing. Serkan replied that he was not going to fly. He asked again, “There is a written order, are you not going to fly?” Serkan replied, “Yes, I am not going to fly,” and had the technician next to him verify his response. Colonel Dağlı was notified about the situation and he ordered Lieutenant Colonel Bahattin Akgül to fly the helicopter.
Serkan, after Lieutenant Colonel Akgül also refused to fly, told his friends on the helicopter about the coup attempt and warned them not to cooperate with the traitors. After his friends realized the situation, he went back to the base with the helicopter.
He risked falling and death
Gallant pilot Serkan Çoban, switched off the engine on the night of the coup attempt on July 15th and prevented a huge disaster by delaying assassination squads. He spoke of that night as follows; “I was so happy to hear that we became a part of something good by delaying them, preventing those traitors. Even if there was an armed squad on my helicopter, I would still switch off the engines while flying and crash. I would kill everyone because I lost my mind, I could have become a martyr or could not be here today, they could have shot me there; I risked it because I am not a traitor. I have been wearing the uniform since I was 14. There are the rights of thousands of orphans on the flight uniform I wear. This state has raised me since I was 14, I will try to hinder those who point their guns at the state, who riot, who fire their guns at this nation, and I will not fraternize with that kind of people.”
