Turkey: Shot teen wants to re-join anti-coup protests

By Ismail Ozdemir

ISTANBUL

Shot by a pro-coup soldier on July 15, Istanbul teenager Adviyye Gul Ismailoglu says that she wants to recover to take to the streets again.

Speaking at her Istanbul home to Anadolu Agency on Friday, the 14-year-old girl says she was shot in front of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality building. The bullet struck her arm and passed through her back.

"When I saw the coup attempt on TV, I was shocked. None of us could let it happen. I wanted to stand in their way.

“After the call of the president [Recep Tayyip Erdogan], I said 'I will go out'.

“My mother, father and sister and I went out. We planned to go to the governorate, however we were unable to get there as they [pro-coup soldiers] set up a barricade in Sarachane [central Istanbul]", she said.

She says a soldier first fired into the air, before firing at people’s feet. After the crowd swelled, a number of soldiers fired at protesters, she says.

"We thought that they are our soldiers and they would not shoot us but we wanted to be martyrs or veterans if they shot us. And I was shot in that moment. When I got shot, I was shocked. I could not believe it," the teenager added.

"But I felt relaxed as I was going to be a veteran or martyr. Firstly I thought that it was a plastic bullet but it wasn't."

Ismailoglu stated that she grew up with patriotism and would go out again if a similar situation occurred.

"I don't regret it. Now I am trying to recover so that I can join the people in the streets. I will fight for my homeland and religion as far as I can and I will never be scared. They have seen that Turks never run away," she said.

Ismailoglu added that she wants to meet President Erdogan.

The government has said the attempted coup was organized by followers of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization.

The July 15 coup attempt martyred at least 246 people and wounded more than 2,100 who took to the streets to protest the attempt.

Turkey accuses U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen and his so-called parallel state of being behind the failed coup and has called for his extradition to Turkey to face trial.