Turkish Incirlik AFB Commander seeks aslyum from the US?

[erglerbergler]

In response to this news,
I made the following post:

Interesting that Erdogan wants us to believe that the commander of this base was involved with this "coup". With respect to jet activity, all I saw from people who claimed to witness firsthand was that a handful of jets were continually creating sonic booms at low altitudes, probably trying to scare the population.

Possible scenario; commander of base goes to US military, tells them Erdogan is up to something, Erdogan responds by blockading the base until they give him up.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the end of the blockade coincided with the detaining of this commander.

I may have been correct that Bekir Ercan Van, commander of the base, approached the US. According to a Turkish state run news agency, the commander sought asylum before being denied.

http://www.dailysabah.com/diplomacy/2016/07/18/us-rejects-asylum-to-incirlik-base-commander-detained-for-complicity-in-failed-coup-attempt

This was also posted in Russian media, both claiming that a NYT source reported it originally. However, both of these agencies are entirely controlled by Erdogan/Putin, meaning their reliability is in question, and I couldn't find anything in the NYT website about this. I'm not sure what motive Erdogan's media would have in fabricating a claim like this though.

It appears the US did not hand him over to the Turkish authorities until Sunday. I'd be interested in hearing the story he told the US about what had happened.