The Turkish people ended the country’s long history of military coups through their resistance to the defeated July 15, 2016 coup attempt, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus said.
Speaking at a ceremony in parliament marking Democracy and National Unity Day on Wednesday, Kurtulmus said the night’s greatest legacy was “the victory of democracy” and “the national will.”
He said Türkiye had experienced a chain of coups dating back to the late Ottoman period and continuing throughout the country’s republican and multiparty political history.
“The nation put its stamp on the morning of July 15 and consigned the tradition of coups to the dustbin of history,” he said.
Kurtulmus said political leadership, parliament, the public, mosques and the media played central roles in defeating the coup attempt.
He recalled President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s televised appeal urging citizens to take to the streets, saying the message encouraged millions to resist the putschists.
