ANKARA: Turkey on Sunday commemorated the second anniversary of a bloody coup attempt which was followed by a series of purges in the public sector and changes to boost President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers.
Two hundred and forty-eight people were killed and over 2,000 were wounded after a rogue military faction tried to overthrow Erdogan on July 15, 2016. The attempted coup was blamed by Ankara on US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, a former ally turned foe of Erdogan. Gulen denies the claims.
In a series of events, Erdogan took part in a religious ceremony in an Ankara mosque before he hosted a lunch with martyrs’ families and those wounded at the presidential palace.
July 15 is now a national holiday and Erdogan promised during the lunch that “we will not let it be forgotten and we will not forget it”.
Erdogan will address citizens on the bridge across the Bosphorus in Istanbul — now renamed the July 15 Martyrs’ Bridge — which was the scene of bloody fighting between Erdogan’s supporters and renegade soldiers.
Ankara municipality organised a rally in the renamed July 15 Kizilay National Will Square due to start at 18:00 GMT, the same place where thousands gathered nightly for a month after the coup attempt.
Dozens of life sentences have been handed down against the putschists while hundreds more court cases continue across Turkey against alleged coup-plotters. — AFP
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