Turkey commemorates July 15 failed coup

The Republic of Turkey has commemorated the fourth anniversary of the July 15, 2016 coup by the Fethulah Terrorists Organisation (FETO). The coup was stopped by the people of Turkey and their unwavering belief in democracy.

The Turkish Ambassador to Ghana, Mrs Ozlem Ergun Ulueren in a media briefing stressed that on the basis of the rule of law, the perpetrators of the July 15 coup attempt had been brought to justice.

“We have an extensive collection of factual evidence including video footage, digital materials gathered at the Akıncı Air Base (the centre of operations of the coup-plotters), satellite communications among plotters, the confessions of FETO members who actively participated in the coup attempt and the statements of those Turkish officers resisting the coup attempt,” the Turkish ambassador told the media in Accra recently.

In line with this she said Turkey had carried out approximately 16,000 initiatives at various levels to inform their foreign partners regarding the operations of FETO affiliated entities and individuals in order to limit the manoeuvring space of the organisation abroad and prevent its members from escaping justice.

Addressing the press conference to mark the occassion, Ambassador Ulueren said countries which had investigated and monitored FETO had found out that they were involved in an extensive list of negative activities including crime, money laundering, intimidation, bribery and passport/visa fraud.

She further disclosed that FETO affiliated schools and education centres in 38 countries were closed down or taken over by the relevant country, adding that in 20 of these countries, the affiliated schools and education centres had been transferred to the Turkish Maarif Foundation.

Mrs Ulueren said the foundation, which operates in 43 countries, including Ghana, maintains its activities all around the world, especially in the field of education.

That night

The Turkish ambassador, who was in Ankara that night of the failed coup plot, said it was difficult to find the appropriate words to describe the brutality and treachery that was displayed.

It was a night of terror under the wrath of helicopter gunships, tanks and F-16 jets. The bombing of the Turkish Parliament, the Presidential Complex and the police headquarters will go down as first in history. “All the political parties, both in government and in opposition, the uninfected elements of the Armed Forces and Police Force, as well as the media stood up against the attempted coup", she recalled.

That night, the people of Turkey from all backgrounds and political views displayed a heroic solidarity to defend their democratically elected constitutional government.

They did not hesitate to stand selflessly in front of the tanks and guns. On that night, 251 Turkish citizens lost their lives and more than 2000 were wounded,” she stated.

She said the people of Turkey used their bodies to shield and repel the attempted coup under the leadership of Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Turkey.

Democracy

July 15, she noted was a trial of strength and perseverance for the Turkish democracy and the state and they felt proud to have passed this test.

At the first sightings of fighter jets flying over Ankara and Istanbul, we recognised that there was something amiss, she stated.

“To judge the deeds of Fetullah Gulen and the terrorist organisation called FETO only with what transpired on July 15 will be a mistake,” she noted and said the crimes committed on the night of July 15 were just the tip of the iceberg.

It all started under the guise of a charitable education effort back in the 1970s where Fetullah Gulen and his followers disguised themselves as a benign education movement, when they started the campaign of establishing schools in Turkey and later around the world.

We now understand that this was the first step of an infiltration campaign where children and their parents were recruited with the seemingly innocent promise of a better education and good job.

“As civil servants or military personnel, the loyalty of FETO members was not to the nation or to the state they served and indeed, the handlers of those FETÖ members staffed at critical governmental posts kept their indoctrination up-to-date and passed on the instructions of their leader,” she stated.

160 Countries

The ambassador observed that FETO was still present in around 160 countries and its modus operandi was the same all around the world.

“As they seek to infiltrate and enlarge their global economic and political influence, they constitute a direct security threat for any country where they operated.” she said.

Upon their official initiatives, she said international organisations had taken resolutions declaring FETO a terrorist organisation, adding that such resolutions were adopted at the 43rd session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers held on October 19, 2016 at the Asian Parliamentary Assembly held on December 1, 2016 and at the 12th Conference of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC on January 27, 2017.

She noted  that on August 9, 2019, four party groups in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, including the opposition parties released a joint statement regarding FETO, reiterating the call to Turkey’s allies and partners to take steps against this terrorist organisation and its leader.
“FETO’s attempts to spread across all areas of the economy via its shell entities, particularly in the education, media and banking sectors, have been thwarted inside our country,” she stressed.