Former minister reiterates UK's support for Turkey against putschists

LONDON (AA) – Sir Alan Duncan, Britain’s former minister for Europe and Americas, said problems should never be solved through coups.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on the fifth anniversary of the July 15 defeated coup in Turkey, Duncan said he was “very shocked” with the events that took place in Turkey.

“I heard about it, of course on the media on television, and was very shocked by the events,” he said.

Duncan, the first Western politician to have visited Turkey after the coup attempt which killed 251 people, said he had become a minister of the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office a day before the failed coup.

“And so pretty well, on my first day, as minister, I said, this is appalling. The UK totally condemns this coup attempt," he shared. "And I said to my office, get me on a plane to Ankara, immediately, we must go and express a clear view from the UK about these events.”

He added that one should never "solve a political problem with a coup attempt," but through democratic means.

"I visited to express solidarity with the Turkish government. And I went to the bombed out parliament building, I saw the rubble,” he said.

Duncan compared what he saw in Ankara with what it would have been in such an attempt in the UK.

“When I thought about it ... it's like the army going over Westminster Bridge, bombing the House of Commons, trying to replace Her Majesty the Queen, and shooting people in the streets,” he said.

“That is how bad it was. So today, five years later, we condemn this coup attempt and support proper government processes in Turkey."

Turkey marks July 15 as Democracy and National Unity Day with events nationwide to commemorate those who lost their lives beating back the putschists and to remember the bravery of the nation.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 in which 251 people were killed and 2,734 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.