Turkey: July 15 martyrs remembered in Marmaris

By Sibel Ugurlu

ANKARA (AA) – The hotel where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan narrowly escaped an assassination plot in an attempted government overthrow was the site where demonstrators gathered to remember the martyrs of the defeated coup one year later.

Demonstrators waved Turkish flags and Erdogan posters outside the Grand Yazici Marmaris Hotel in the Marmaris district of the southern province of Mugla as the names of the July 15 martyrs were read aloud. “Here” was the response after each name.

“Martyrs are immortal, our land is indivisible” and “how happy is he who can say I am a Turk” were also chanted.

Erdogan was staying at the hotel while on a family vacation when the coup plot went into effect.

The president left for Istanbul after being alerted to the coup bid and narrowly escaped an armed attack on the hotel 15 minutes after he left. Two policemen were killed.

Three of 47 soldiers who tried to assassinate Erdogan on orders from Fetullah Gulen, the leader of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, managed to escape after clashes with police.

Moments after the attempted overthrow was launched, Erdogan urged citizens in a televised message to “go to squares” and “give the best answer” to those who attempted the coup.

Arriving in Istanbul hours later, the president said he would not leave Ataturk Airport until the situation in the country returned to normal.

Turkey accuses the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, of organizing the defeated coup as well as a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

The failed coup resulted in 250 martyrs and nearly 2,200 injured.