Turkish Embassy marks first anniversary of defeating coup
KUWAIT:
The Turkish Embassy yesterday marked one year since the defeat of a coup aimed at ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “On the night of July 15 last year, the Turkish nation foiled a coup by the followers of Fethullah Gulen, who considers himself the ‘imam of the universe,’ who had infiltrated into the armed forces and other public institutions. What happened that night was a huge terrorist attack never seen before in the history of the Republic of Turkey. Around 250 people were killed and more than 2,000 were injured,” Turkey’s Ambassador to Kuwait Salih Murat Tamer told reporters.
Tamer noted that the Turkish Embassy honored the martyrs of the coup bid. “We recall with respect our dear martyrs who lost their lives during their heroic struggle in defending democracy and the future of their state. We ask God for mercy on them, and express our thanks and gratitude to the wounded. The Turkish people faced the putschists with great courage - they were all one. They stood in front of tanks with no weapons. They made shields from their bodies to prevent the fall of state institutions. They made it clear that the Turkish people will not allow any interventions outside the framework of democracy. They proved that the future of Turkey is determined by the free will of the people and not by the armed groups,”Tamer said.
“For more than a thousand years, traitors fought against the military, but did not open fire against their own people. For this reason, as the president of our republic has stated, the event of July 15 is the most insidious and dirty coup attempt,” he added.
The Turkish ambassador called to never forget July 15 and not let future generations forget it. He thanked HH the Amir, HH Crown Prince and HH Prime Minister of Kuwait, who quickly made contact after they learned about the failed coup. “Kuwait has been impressive despite its small geographical size, it has a large heart that can accommodate the whole world,” Tamer said. He said the terrorist organization established by Gulen (FETO) aims to abolish the government of Turkey by force and all illegal means, hindering the performance of its functions in part or in total and putting the sovereignty of the state under pressure, thus weakening it.
GCC rift
On the Qatar-Gulf crisis, the Turkish ambassador said Turkey believes the crisis was not supposed to be this complicated in the first place. “We support the Amir’s efforts. We are not a part of this crisis but we stand by international and humanitarian laws. The Gulf Cooperation Council has been in existence for over 40 years, and I hope it will continue to do so. This issue should be resolved under the umbrella of the Gulf states and not by external interventions,” Tamer said. He said the four Arab states are “brotherly countries” to Turkey, but it is not right to be against Qatar. He said any problem in the Gulf is a problem for Turkey, as the region is its strategic partner.
On a visit by Erdogan to Kuwait and other Gulf countries, he said: “The president will be visiting Kuwait soon but the date has not yet been determined.” About the possibility of Erdogan visiting Saudi Arabia, Tamer affirmed that he might visit Riyadh because Saudi Arabia is a brotherly country even if “we do not agree on some points of view”. “This does not mean that we are not friends, but we use the discussion table to resolve our disagreements,” he said. The ambassador noted that Qatar is the only nation that can ask the Turkish military to close its base and leave. “It is not reasonable for other countries to force the Turkish military base to close, while they have US and British military bases!”
He revealed that some members of FETO were planning to open a university in Kuwait, but when Kuwait didn’t agree with their proposal, they opened an education center. But Kuwait later closed the center and expelled its members to Turkey.