Erdoğan says Türkiye remains hope for ‘oppressed’

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on July 15 that Türkiye remains a source of hope for “the oppressed” across the Middle East and beyond, as the country marked the 10th anniversary of the 2016 failed coup attempt with nationwide commemorations.

“Just as it was 10 years ago, the world’s eyes are on us today. The world is looking at us today. It is looking at the Turkish nation,” Erdoğan said at an event in the capital Ankara.

Across Türkiye, ministries, municipalities and civil society organizations held ceremonies to commemorate the anniversary of the coup attempt orchestrated by FETÖ.

“Beirut, Damascus, Aleppo, Tripoli and Sarajevo are watching us today. The innocent children of Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem are watching us,” he said. “From the Middle East to the Balkans, from the Caucasus to Africa, the oppressed and the victims look to Türkiye with great hope.”

He vowed that Türkiye would not allow efforts to undermine that role and pledged to build a “great and powerful Türkiye” through national unity.

Erdoğan also said terror groups had “reached a dead end” and warned against complacency in the fight against FETÖ, despite what he described as the group’s weakening following the death of its leader.

“Although FETÖ has lost its composure, its hope has been exhausted and its motivation has declined following the death of the terrorist organization’s leader, we can never afford to become complacent in the fight against this insidious network,” he said.

The president said Türkiye would continue supporting “oppressed and suffering people from Gaza to Lebanon, Somalia to Syria and from Rakhine to Sudan.”

Reflecting on the events of July 15, 2016, Erdoğan said the public’s resistance “revived the spirit of Türkiye’s War of Independence” and praised those who opposed the coup attempt.

“Those who heroically resisted the coup, those who applauded the coup plotters and those who tried to exonerate them will likewise never be forgotten,” he said.

Erdoğan said that they had not allowed the organization to regain a foothold in society through structures that appeared legitimate within the country, adding that they were closely monitoring FETO’s efforts to re-establish itself in the bureaucracy, in politics and especially in commercial activities.

“Our state is already taking the necessary action within the law regarding those who abandon their hatred toward Türkiye, those who try to escape the deviance into which they have fallen and those who genuinely regret the crimes they have committed,” he said.

In a social media post on July 16, Erdoğan reiterated that Türkiye would continue its campaign against FETÖ until the group is “totally eradicated.”