Erdoğan: Who can stand against those who throw crowbars to fighter planes?

Photo: AA

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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last night (July 15) gave an "address to the nation" speech on the fourth anniversary of the 2016 coup attempt.

"No matter how much the terror groups FETÖ [Fetullahist Terrorist Organization] and the PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] plot against Turkey from within or without, they cannot silence the adhan, lower our flag.

"On the night of July 15, 2016, the FETÖ tried to shackle this freedom-loving nation, thank god they could not succeed."

The public opposition to the coup bid that night proved "that each individual of our nation can become an invincible hero for the adhan [call to prayer], flag, freedom, and the future," he added, stressing that the people frustrated those who want to "put the national will under their feet."

"Who can stand against a nation that throws crowbars to planes, punches tanks?" the president asked.

The defeated coup "tried to invade the country, using terrorists in the army as a miserable betrayal, but this coup bid only fueled the country's patriotic determination," he added.

Turkey is "not finished yet, this nation has many words to say, many projects to implement," he said.

The government declared July 15 as the "Democracy and National Unity Day" to commemorate those who lost their lives during the coup attempt.

A number of structures and public spaces were renamed in the immediate aftermath of the coup bid, most notably İstanbul's Bosphorus Bridge becoming the "July 15 Martyrs' Bridge."

Ankara also accuses Fetullah Gülen group of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of state institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary. (EKN/VK)