Speaking during the
Saraçhane rally held in Istanbul's Fatih district on Friday to commemorate July 15 martyrs, President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stressed in his speech while referring to the defeated
July 15 coup attempt in 2016: "Türkiye will do its best not to go through another coup, face threat of captivity."
"We will resolutely continue building a great and powerful
Türkiye so that our country never faces calamities such as the
July 15 defeated coup attempt," Erdoğan said in a statement.
The Turkish leader also added that in line with
Ankara's red lines, terror groups FETO, PKK/YPG were included in
NATO records for 1st time during the recent summit in the Spanish capital Madrid.
Türkish citizens poured into to streets across the country on Friday to commemorate those martyred during the defeated July 15 coup in 2016.
Since its designation in October 2016, every year, the country marks July 15 as
Democracy and National Unity Day, with events held to commemorate those who lost their lives for beating back the putschists and remembering the bravery of the nation.
FETO and its US-based leader
Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup, which left 251 people dead and 2,734 injured.
Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the
infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.
The attempt by FETO to overthrow the government began around 10 p.m. local time (1900GMT) on July 15, 2016, and was thwarted by 8 a.m. the next day.
Standing against the threat, the Turkish people courageously showed the world that they would not tolerate any attempt to thwart their will as expressed through their democratically elected government.
