Turkey: Family recalls police son martyred in coup bid

By Omer Urer

DUZCE, Turkey (AA) – A Turkish family on Sunday proudly remembered their son, a police chief who was martyred during the July 15, 2016 deadly coup attempt by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) against the Turkish government.

In 2016, Ufuk Baysan was a chief of police in the Special Forces Command in Golbasi, a district in Ankara, Turkey’s capital.

“July 15 is a painful memory for myself and families with martyrs like us,” Ramazan Baysan, Ufuk’s father, told Anadolu Agency.

Baysan said he considers the putschists’ actions that night to be inhumane, adding that he cannot accept what they did to their fellow citizens.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

“It is unacceptable to bomb ordinary people, no matter if they were elderly, or young people, or children, or the Turkish parliament,” Baysan said.

On the loss of his son, Baysan added: “No matter how much the pain is suppressed, it doesn’t disappear. Every day and hour, my son is before my eyes, but we have to accept the situation.”

Baysan said he felt blessed that his son was martyred while protecting the country, explaining: “Any other way would hurt me.”

Hanife Baysan, Ufuk’s mother, called July 15 the hardest day for her.

“I’m proud that he was martyred, but my heart also aches,” she said.

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.

Fighter jets under putschist control bombed the parliament building the night of the deadly coup attempt.

Turkey marks June 15 as Democracy and National Unity Day with events honoring those who lost their lives beating back the putschists and to remember the bravery of the nation.

*Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur