Türkiye holds panel in Stockholm on July 15 defeated coup attempt

By Atila Altuntas

STOCKHOLM (AA) - Türkiye's Communications Directorate organized a panel Thursday in the Swedish capital Stockholm on the July 15, 2016 defeated coup attempt in Türkiye.

The panel, titled "July 15: Türkiye's Democracy Victory," was attended by Turkish and foreign academics, journalists and analysts.

Turkish Ambassador to Sweden Yonet Can Tezel was also among the numerous invitees.

German journalist-analyst Klaus Jurgens said the failed coup attempt by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) on the evening of July 15, 2016, was prevented by the struggle of the Turkish nation.

Jurgens emphasized that the Turkish people and government wrote history by standing against the coup attempt and drew attention to FETO's structures in many countries around the world, including Germany, Sweden and South America.

- FETO structures in Germany

Jurgens noted that a FETO-affiliated association named 'Frohsinn' operates in Bavaria and southern Germany.

He said it is a 30-year-old association that employed around 150 people before 2016 and ran instutions such as education centers, kindergartens and schools for adults.

"Matthias Garte, the former Integration Director of Augsburg, admitted that they suspected a mysterious network behind these institutions and that it was difficult to uncover it. It was later revealed that the aforementioned FETO-affiliated association received annual funding of €945,000 ($1.06 million) from the state of Bavaria," he said.

From 2016 to 2020, a total of 32,000 people sought political asylum in Germany from Türkiye, he said.

"The number of those seeking asylum in Bavaria was 3,500, with the majority being FETO-affiliated individuals.”

- Turkish people, government united

Italian author Assistant Prof. Valeria Giannotta said she was present in front of the Turkish Parliament in Ankara during the FETO coup attempt on July 15.

She said everything was clear when looking at the photos of the coup attempt, emphasizing that the Turkish people demonstrated their strength by standing against tanks, planes and bombs.

Giannotta pointed out that the democratic victory of the Turkish people was not well understood in the West, adding that in Italy, some journalists claimed that the coup was "fake and that the government staged it themselves."

"In reality, FETO gradually managed the coup process. FETO was involved in the Dec. 17-25 coup attempt through the judiciary and diluted the Ergenekon and the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) cases," she said.

"FETO had a hand in the downing of a Russian warplane, the killing of the Russian Ambassador in Ankara, and the Gezi Protests. It was a long process. The Turkish people and government united and thwarted the FETO coup attempt on July 15," she said.

Communications Director Fahrettin Altun addressed the participants of the panel through a video message.

Altun noted that it has been seven years since the treacherous coup attempt by FETO which had infiltrated the Turkish Armed Forces was thwarted by the noble Turkish nation.

He pointed out that it has been exactly seven years since the night of July 15, 2016, when the Presidential Complex, representing the home of the nation, the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye representing the nation's will, the bridges over the Turkish Straits and the security and intelligence organizations were attacked and damaged by bullets and bombs from the nation’s ammunition.

"On the night of July 15, this nation launched an unprecedented mobilization in the face of the betrayal it suffered. Upon the call of our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, people from all corners of the country flooded the streets, avenues and squares, shielding their chests against this shameful invasion. Our nation, under the leadership of our President, inflicted a great defeat on the July 15 coup plotters, usurpers and invaders," he said.

In early 2015, an Istanbul high court overturned the convictions against all 236 suspects and acquitted them.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup on July 15, 2016 which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

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.