Anti-coup protests to end with huge rally in Istanbul

ANKARA

Anti-coup rallies across Turkey attended by millions of people since July 15 will culminate in a massive rally next weekend uniting Turks from all walks of life, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Saturday.

The president said live on air he would propose for Istanbul to host a rally on 7 August that would attract participation from citizens, political leaders, high-ranking military officers, as well as artists and athletes.

"Let the nation be there together," Erdogan said. "Accelerating the process of normalization is extremely important for our country."

Turks have continued to pour onto the streets every night to keep "democracy watch" since they were urged to "gather at the squares" by Erdogan on the night of July 15, when the Turkish state survived a coup attempt that the government said was carried out by rogue elements within the military loyal to a Fetullah Gulen-led terrorist organization. More than 230 people died and nearly 2,200 were injured during the attacks that night.

The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) is "no different than PKK, even worse," Erdogan said, referring to the separatist terror group that has been engaged in an illegal armed campaign against the government for more than three decades, carrying out terrorist attacks that have claimed thousands of lives.

Following the coup attempt, Turkish courts have begun a broad investigation across the country against FETO, whose members penetrated critical state institutions, including the judiciary and the military.

Erdogan also announced that a series of changes to the organizational structure of Turkey’s armed forces are on table.

The changes included making the army, navy and air force directly answerable to the Defense Ministry, while the General Staff and the National Intelligence Agency would be directly answerable to the presidency, Erdogan said.

However, Erdogan stressed these changing would be discussed with opposition leaders.

In further changes, military schools will be shut down and replaced with a university of national defense that would include army, air force and naval academies. A gendarmerie academy will also be established.

Responsibility for military hospitals would be transferred to the Health Ministry, Erdogan said.

The president also stressed the Turkish government's ongoing efforts for the extradition of Fetullah Gulen from the U.S., where he has lived since 1999. Erdogan called on the U.S. administration to comply with Ankara's formal request.

The ongoing probe into the coup attempt has produced testimonies from coup-plotters and victimized military officials that point to Gulen and FETO as the mastermind of the failed putsch.