16 July 2017•Update: 01 August 2017
NEW YORK/BERLIN
Thousands of people across the world joined ceremonies to mark defeated coup bid in Turkey on July 15 last year.
Turkish-Americans were joined Saturday in Times Square by representatives from a number of Muslim nations to commemorate the first anniversary of the bloody coup attempt.
Organized by Turkish non-profit, Cihannuma USA, the dozens of demonstrators chanted, “Martyrs never die, the motherland will live on”.
“As members of the Turkish-American community, we were standing right here last year today,’’ Cihannuma President Levent Ali Yilmaz said, while he recalled the events of the night of the overthrow attempt.
Pakistan joins Turkey to mark defeated coup anniversary
Special prayers for martyrs of July 15 were held across Pakistan on Saturday to mark the defeated coup attempt.
The prayers were held in hundreds of Mosques in all over the country under the aegis of Jamiat Ulema Pakistan (JUP), one of the mainstreams religious parties in Pakistan, for the martyrs who sacrificed their lives to safeguard Turkey’s integrity and democracy.
“It was a well-planned conspiracy involving some international powers to derail the democracy in Turkey through a so-called coup but the Turkish people foiled that attempt with unity and faith,” Shah Owais Noorani, the JUP secretary general, told Anadolu Agency.
In Karachi alone, Owais, a son of the country’s top religious scholar and politician, late Moulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, said that celebrations and prayers to mark the defeated coup were held at 61 venues.
"I hope that we glean lessons from this extremely unfortunate event,’’ Yilmaz said. “And I pray that we never suffer through a calamity like July 15.”
Turks in Germany mark anniversary of defeated coup
In Berlin, Turkish ambassador Ali Kemal Aydin, hosted an event at the embassy in memory of the victims of the July 15 coup attempt.
He said the Turkish people showed great courage on that night, and won an “epic” victory against the coup plotters.
“They showed the whole world how to defend democracy and freedoms,” he said.
Aydin regretted that German politicians did not show solidarity with the Turkish people against the attempted coup.
“For us it is unacceptable that those terrorists who were involved in this coup attempt or supported it can now find shelter here,” he said.
Commemorations held in Sarajevo
In Sarajevo, Turkish flag is projected onto Sarajevo City Hall Vijecnica's facade during July 15 Democracy and National Unity Day's events.
Haldun Koc, Turkey's ambassador to Sarajevo, and many people participated in the commemoration ceremonies in the capital city.
South Africa also marks Turkey's defeated coup on July 15
Turkish embassy in South Africa's Pretoria also held events to mark last year's failed coup attempt.
South African citizens and Turkey people including children joined the events in the embassy on Saturday.
The coup attempt, blamed on the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, martyred 250 people and injured nearly 2,000.
Coup-plotters used the Turkish armed forces against its own people, including the shelling of innocent civilians and the unprecedented bombing of vital government functions – including the parliament while lawmakers were inside the building.
On the first anniversary, Turks have taken to the streets in all 81 Turkish provinces to honor the victims, and highlight the resistance they used to put down the coup bid. including “democracy vigils” in which demonstrators continued to protests for days after the coup was defeated in fear of additional overthrow attempts.
