Turkish president meets martyrs' relatives in Istanbul

By Hulya Corakci Ertan, Nurhan Corlu

ISTANBUL (AA) – The Turkish president met with the relatives of martyrs in Turkey’s wars against terrorism on Saturday at the first fast-breaking program of the Muslim holly month of Ramadan.

Speaking in Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “The July 15 calamity, which we experienced in a time when we believed that Turkey's coup era was over [...], has left deep traces in the heart and memory of our nation.”

“If Turkey is fighting against terrorist organizations more decisively than in the past, the July 15 victory has had a great effect on this,” Erdogan added.

“We hope that we draw a lesson from July 15 and we will not allow it to happen iagain,” he added.

Ankara has accused the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) of orchestrating last July’s coup attempt in Turkey, which martyred 250 people and injured nearly 2,200.

In Turkey, those who died fighting against criminals including terrorist organizations such as the FETO, the PKK and Daesh are considered martyr.s

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- resumed its armed campaign against Turkey in July 2015. Since then, it has been responsible for the deaths of some 1,200 Turkish security personnel and civilians, including a number of women and children.

- 30,000 people

Erdogan had said in April that Turkey’s seven-month Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria had left 67 service personnel martyred.

Meanwhile nearly 30.000 people gathered together at the Sultan Ahmet Square in Istanbul for the first fast-breaking of Ramadan, Mustafa Demir, mayor of Istanbul's Fatih district said in a statement on Saturday.

The Fatih district municipality which organized the event distributed food for the guests.

"Today, there are not only people attending from Istanbul, not only from Turkey but also from America and China and many other countries here,” Demir said.