Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar on Tuesday commemorated the ninth anniversary of the failed coup d’état which was staged in Turkey in 2016, acclaiming the “epic resistance displayed by the Turkish nation” to stop it in its tracks.
“On the night of July 15, 2016, the epic resistance displayed by the Turkish nation in unity and solidarity to defend its democracy, its republic, and its freedom, was written in golden letters in history,” he began.
“The treacherous coup attempt, which targeted the will of the nation and the survival of the Republic of Turkey, was thwarted thanks to the courage of the millions who poured onto the streets, the sacrifice of our cherished martyrs, and the determination of our veterans.”
He added his commemorations of those who died on the night of July 15, 2016, before saying that Turkish Cypriots “are honoured to always stand with our motherland, Turkey”.
“I emphases once again that we will continue to stand with the same faith and determination against all threats to democracy, to the will of the nation, and to freedom,” he said.
The north’s ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel, meanwhile, spoke on both the failed coup staged in Turkey in 2016, and the coup which was staged in Cyprus, sponsored by the Greek military junta of the day, exactly 42 years prior in 1974.
He said that on the night of July 15, 2016, “all the honourable people living in Turkey defended their homeland, their democracy, and their republic, street by street and square by square”.
“It should not be forgotten that July 15 witnessed a betrayal not only in 2016, but also in 1974,” he added, saying that “on July 15, 1974, the fascist junta in Greece carried out a coup aimed at enosis, aiming to annex the entire island to Greece.”
However, he said, “the unwavering stance of the Turkish Cypriots and the peace operation launched by our motherland, Turkey, transformed July 20 from a period of resistance to a period of resurrection”.
“Just as the Turkish Cypriot people did not surrender in 1974, but resisted and gained their freedom under the guarantee of their motherland, Turkey, the people of Turkey demonstrated the same resistance in 2016 and stood firmly by their state and their will against the coup plotters. That is why July 15 is the date of the nation’s unwavering will against uprisings,” he said.
The coup in Turkey was staged late in the evening of July 15, with military jets having been spotted over Ankara, and both the Fatih Sultan Mehmet and Bosphorus bridges, which link the European and Asian sides of Istanbul, being closed.
Local media then reported that tanks had arrived at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, while hostages were taken at Turkey’s military headquarters, while helicopters bombed police buildings in the Golbasi district of Ankara.
Shortly before midnight, soldiers occupied Istanbul’s central Taksim square, while public broadcaster TRT, newspaper Hurriyet, and CNN Turk were all raided.
The hotel in the southwestern city where Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was staying was attacked at around 4am on July 16, while a military helicopter also opened fire on Turkey’s parliament building in the early hours of the morning.
However, as news agency Reuters wrote at the time, the coup then “crumbled” in the early hours of July 16 as crowds defied pro-coup orders and gathered in major squares in Ankara and Istanbul to oppose it.
Pro-coup soldiers in Taksim square surrendered to the police, while Ataturk airport was retaken by forces loyal to the government shortly after 5am, and the Erdogan-led government remained in full control of the country thereafter.
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