Panel in Ankara marks defeat of 2016 coup attempt in Türkiye

By Oguzhan Sari

A panel commemorating the defeat of the 2016 coup attempt in Türkiye was held Tuesday in the capital Ankara by the country's Communications Directorate.

At the event, titled Victory of the Nation on July 15, Anadolu Deputy General Manager and Editor-in-Chief Yusuf Ozhan moderated a session on the propaganda network and perception management of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which orchestrated the deadly coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

Ozhan said the course of events that culminated in the coup attempt began in 2011, highlighting that both citizens and officials had bore witness to what happened that night, with many making deep personal sacrifices.

The defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 were wounded, was plotted and carried out by FETO and its US-based leader Fethullah Gulen.

Panelist Davut Ala, a major general who was serving as garrison commander in the Black Sea province of Samsun during the coup bid, stressed the need for young people to be educated to prevent similar events in the future.

Asserting that the loyalties of FETO terrorists lie outside of Türkiye, Ala said they had attacked fellow members of the military with whom they lived and worked side-by-side.

Turgut Aslan, another panel member who was head of counter-terrorism in the country's police force at the time of the coup attempt, said he was the first to have FETO declared a terror group in a report he had prepared.

Shot and left for dead by the coup plotters, Aslan emerged from a subsequent coma after five months. He described his relief at learning of the plots failure, saying this signifies a "victory for democracy and the people."

Also on the panel was Huseyin Alptekin, a faculty member at the National Defense University in Istanbul. He said that while FETO has been significantly weakened, its international network remains intact.

Alptekin pointed out that efforts by US leaders, such as former President Donald Trump, to close FETO schools and extradite Fetullah Gulen have been thwarted by "higher powers." He stressed that the terrorist organization would not collapse solely with the death of Gulen, 83, as long as its supporting network endures.

Gulen has long lived in the US state of Pennsylvania. Turkish leaders have long sought his extradition, but US judicial officials have not approved it.

*Writing by Yasin Gungor in Istanbul