A retired colonel and frequent commentator on pro-government TV networks in Turkey, advocated a view of killing non-Turks and non-Muslims in Turkey during a private phone conversation that was intercepted by investigators as part a probe into organised crime, Nordic Monitor revealed in a wiretap they obtained.
On December 17, 2011, Turkish Colonel Coşkun Başbuğ had a phone conversation with his close friend Ersin Kaymakçı and spoke against minority groups that exist in Turkey and said "We will wage a war, brother."
Kaymakçı, responded, saying “this time we do not need to fight a war."
However, Başbuğ showed his thirst for blood by stating “Not without taking the lives of these faggots," prompting Kaymakçı to say "Brother, these faggots will have to get the fuck out of here, without putting up a fight. You know what, they will feel Turks breathing down their necks."
The two were bragging about how they would load non-Muslims/non-Turks into high-capacity articulated buses for a mass purge and Kaymakçı praised Başbuğ for developing what he claimed to be a technique for recognising non-Muslims/non-Turks - checking their carotid artery with fingers placed on the neck, as revealed by Nordic Monitor.
On the phone, Başbuğ and Kaymakçı also spoke about how Turks would 'save the world,' increase the Turkish population by breeding more, manufacture their own fighter jets, helicopters and bombs, and make other countries servants of Turkey.
Başbuğ’s phone was first wiretapped by Turkish authorities because of his involvement in in a sex trafficking and prostitution ring after police in Smyrna received a tip on August 10, 2010. The gang he was involved in also blackmailed, prostituted women and committed other criminal activities with agents from Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT).
As Nordic Monitor revealed though, the gang also collected top secret information from various government and military officials through honey traps, sexual favours and/or blackmail. The indictment also revealed how NATO and US security was compromised. For example, NATO documents such as the assets and capabilities of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EAD) units operating in every NATO member state, secret US and NATO directives in bomb-making and bomb-diffusion techniques, FBI bomb-making analyses, electronic warfare data used in the NATO alliance, technical, tactical and procedural data for F-16s and sensitive information on US-made Hawk medium-range surface-to-air missile systems.
Although starting from May 9, 2012 at the order of prosecutors, widespread arrests were made and additional criminal evidence was gathered from the homes and offices of suspects during the execution of search and seizure warrants, the criminal case against the gang members was quashed by the Erdoğan government, and all the suspects were let go.
Başbuğ served two-and-a-half years in detention before he was released and many of the others arrested returned to their duties in the Turkish military, advancing up the ladder despite their controversial records. Başbuğ was hired by the Erdoğan-family-owned news network A-Haber and now regularly appears on shows to comment on Turkey’s foreign policy, military operations and security interests.
In the meantime, prosecutors, judges and police investigators who uncovered this massive criminal enterprise were punished either by dismissal or arrest on trumped-up charges, Nordic Monitor concluded.
Copies of the wiretap can be seen here.