President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pledged that Türkiye would forever remember the glorious struggle on the night of the July 15 failed coup attempt, saying that the spirit of July 15 will blaze the trail for the Century of Türkiye.
Speaking at a commemoration ceremony at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara, Erdoğan said remembering the victory and sacrifices of the martyrs is a duty of loyalty.
He noted that in the same way, the spirit of Çanakkale guided the Turkish people for a century, the spirit of July 15 would also serve as a guide for the next century. The Century of Türkiye vision was unveiled by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on the centenary of the foundation of the Republic of Türkiye.
One of the first goals of the Century of Türkiye vision is to draw a new constitution that will be the product of the national will, according to Erdoğan.
“As the People’s Alliance, we’ll keep this alive and sustain it,” the president said, adding that the martyrs would be the pole star of the Turkish people.
Calling on the youth to try to comprehend and embrace the July 15 victory against the coup attempt, Erdoğan said he wants them to be proud of the epic struggle.
The president also reiterated Türkiye’s determination to preserve democracy and the nation’s will against such attempts.
“We will stand up against anyone who points a gun at citizens, the same way we did on the night of July 15,” the president said, adding that the Turkish state is taking all necessary precautions to ensure that a similar coup attempt does not take place in the future. He also said that Türkiye would not let anyone exploit national and moral values to be exploited like groups like the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).
Erdoğan also said the defeated 2016 coup attempt in Türkiye sought to topple the country’s democratically elected government after it became more vocal in its support for Palestine.
“The strong support from us and our government for the Palestinian cause disturbed the global Zionist lobby and the agents of influence within us,” Erdoğan said.
As Türkiye increasingly followed a diverging foreign policy, the “uneasiness of these centers became evident,” he said.
During his address, Erdoğan made a reference to a 2009 encounter with then-Israeli President Shimon Peres, who he challenged at the World Economic Forum over Tel Aviv’s oppression of Palestinians with the now-famous objection, “One minute!”
“The flare of July 15th was actually fired right after our ‘One Minute’ stand,” he added.
In the heated debate in Davos over Israel’s operations against Gaza in 2009, Erdoğan told Peres “When it comes to killing you know very well how to kill. I know very well how you killed children on the beaches.” Then he stormed out of the stage protesting the moderator for not giving him enough time to speak.
Erdoğan stressed that Türkiye’s anger and pain over the coup attempt remain fresh despite the passage of eight years. “Our determination to fight against FETÖ and tutelage is as alive, strong, and resolute as they were on the first day,” said the Turkish president.
Calling FETÖ a “treason network” targeting Türkiye, Erdoğan said members of the terror group would be remembered with “hatred not eight years later, but even 80 years later.”
“FETÖ’s scoundrels, who took orders from charlatans abroad and infringed upon our homeland, have gone down in our history as a black stain with the blood they shed,” he said.
FETÖ, which posed under the guise of a religious movement for decades, recruiting the youth to its ranks with the ultimate goal of seizing control of Türkiye, was already under investigation when the 2016 coup attempt took place. It first tried to topple the elected government in late 2013, but this attempt (through a false anti-graft probe targeting government officials launched by pro-FETÖ prosecutors and police) failed. The government was preparing to weed out suspected infiltrators of FETÖ from the army in August 2016 before they moved to seize power.
Investigations after the coup attempt have uncovered communication between members of FETÖ, from “civilian” members to military officers loyal to the group for planning the attempt. The group’s leader Fetullah Gülen, known for his cryptic messages to his followers, had also called on them to stage a coup in a speech in March 2016, further investigation revealed.
The coup attempt by the group calling itself the Peace at Home Council was commanded by pro-FETÖ officers at Akıncı Air Base in Ankara. F-16 jets took off from the base on July 15, 2016, to bomb strategic locations, including the Presidential Complex and Parliament. Both buildings sustained damage but ultimately endured the attacks. However, bombings killed dozens of police officers at the headquarters of a special operation branch of the police. Members of law enforcement and anti-coup soldiers were the only opponents of putschists, along with patriotic citizens armed with nothing but Turkish flags and a strong will.
