Turkey's July 15 martyrs remembered in UK capital

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - Turkey’s July 15 Democracy and National Unity Day is being observed in London with a series of special events and activities.

A special service held at the Aziziye Mosque in north London during Friday prayers saw Turkey’s London ambassador Abdurrahman Bilgic, consul general Cinar Ergin and religious affairs advisor Mahmut Ozdemir attend.

More than a thousand people packed into the mosque where the 250 martyrs of the defeated July 15 coup were remembered with Quran recitations and special prayers (mawlid).

The Turkish embassy will also give a news briefing to journalists later on Friday.

This event will be followed by a gathering at Walthamstow, organized by the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD), where Turkish Youth and Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic and other officials are expected to attend.

The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 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.