Late last month, Celik was arrested on charges of illegal arms possession, something that was strongly denied by the detainee in the course of the interrogation.
"I have nothing to do with weapons and ammunition that were found during a search. I only own a mobile phone with two SIM cards, which was discovered in a car. I was not involved in any actions on Turkish territory and I only wanted to visit wounded comrades in [the cities of] Denizli and Izmir. I deny the charges that I'm facing," he said.
In early April, it was reported that Celik had pleaded guilty to the murder of the Russian pilot whose Su-24 was shot down by the Turkish Air Force last November. Although Celik said he killed Peshkov, he refused to give further information regarding the incident, the source said. The man also added that he didn't regret killing the Russian pilot and given the opportunity he'd do the same thing again.
According to the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News, Celik and 13 others were having dinner at a restaurant in Izmir's Hatay district when they were arrested by local police on March 30.
#Turkish police arrest killer of #Russian pilot https://t.co/JRd9wJOmFJ pic.twitter.com/76n2W6ubCm
— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) 31 марта 2016 г.
Interestingly, Celik and his friends were arrested not due to their suspected involvement in the killing of the Russian pilot or fighting in Syria, but because they showed up to a restaurant in Izmir with their guns.
The Russian Su-24 bomber was shot down by a Turkish F-16 fighter jet over Syria on November 24, 2015 and fell four kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Turkish border. The crew of the plane ejected and one of its pilots, Peshkov, was killed by fire from the ground, while the second pilot survived and was later rescued.
The Su-24's pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov, was posthumously awarded a Gold Star medal, Russia's highest award.
