Fake IDs, constant changes of appearance and lying low bought about a decade of freedom for Burkay Karatepe, one of the would-be assassins of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). This came to an end earlier this week when authorities announced on Friday that Karatepe, the only fugitive member of a team of assassins who escaped capture after the 2016 coup attempt by FETÖ was foiled, was apprehended in Afyonkarahisar, close to his hometown of Emirdağ.
Karatepe, a captain in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) when the coup attempt unfolded, joined other FETÖ infiltrators in the military in a bid to assassinate Erdoğan during the coup attempt and raided the hotel in southwestern Türkiye’s Marmaris where Erdoğan was vacationing at the time. Erdoğan narrowly escaped the attempt and flew to Istanbul, where he mobilized crowds to stand against the putschists, while two police officers guarding him were gunned down by the assassins. Resistance by anti-putschist security officers forced Karatepe and the others to abandon their plans and flee.
Other members of his team were caught within days while hiding in the countryside, while Karatepe almost vanished into thin air. A fellow would-be assassin claimed that he ditched his military fatigues, donned shorts and slippers, and sought to blend in with tourists in Marmaris. Nothing was heard from Karatepe after that, though authorities questioned his family about his possible whereabouts, and it was suspected that he might have fled to nearby Greek islands, as other members of the terrorist group had done.
