15 July 2019

Distinguished Guests,

Distinguished Media,

Distinguished Turkish Citizens,

We come together with our Namibian friends, members of press and our citizens to commemorate our beloved Martyrs and the heroic defence of the Turkish Nation shown not to desist from democracy and constitutional order.

Three years have passed since the July 15 coup attempt by the FETÖ terrorist organization. Today, we remember that day as
Democracy and National Unity Day in Turkey.

There are important turning points in the histories of nations and states. July 15 is such a date for the Turkish Nation and the Republic of Turkey.

A few moments ago, you watched a documentary film which tells about the bloody face and insidious plans of the said terrorist organization.

On the evening of 15 July 2016, a treacherous faction in the Turkish Armed Forces attempted to stage a coup in Turkey. From the very beginning, the command chain and the vast majority of the Turkish Armed Forces and Turkish Police Forces stand up against the coup attempt.

On that date, in order to capture the Turkish Republic, terrorist Gülen and his followers within the armed forces did not shy away from using lethal military force against innocent civilians, killing 251 and wounding thousands. They tried to assassinate the President. They attacked the Prime Minister’s vehicle. They air-bombarded the Grand National Assembly. The Presidential Complex, the buildings of the National Intelligence Organization and Turkish National Police departments were attacked. The Police Special Operations Center, the crucial counter-terrorism operational body of Turkey in Ankara, was bombed by fighter jets that martyred 55 police officers and injured hundreds on the spot. Hundreds of civilians protesting the coup attempt were shot to death. The terrorist FETÖ coup plotters targeted public and private communication outlets, including TRT (state broadcasting channel) and (private tv channel) CNN Türk.

All the evidence collected so far throughout the investigations and judicial trials demonstrate that the bloodiest terrorist attack in the history of Turkey was orchestrated by FETÖ under the instructions of terrorist Fetullah Gülen. Terrorist Gülen is the mastermind behind what happened in Turkey on July 15^th, 2016.

We have an extensive collection of factual evidence including video footage, digital materials gathered at Akıncı Air Base (the center of operations of the coup-plotters), satellite communications among plotters, the confessions of FETÖ members who actively participated in the coup attempt. There are also statements of the Turkish officers who resisted the coup attempt.

To start with a crucial evidence; the then Chief of General Staff and the current Minister of Defense, retired Full General Hulusi Akar, was held hostage by the plotters during the coup attempt at Akıncı Air Base. Officers proved to be FETÖ members, leading the coup, urged him to speak directly to terrorist Gülen, hoping to persuade him to join them. In the same military air base, some civilians were present on the night of 15 July. Those civilians were all FETÖ members, commanding the military coup-plotters throughout the night. The images of these persons were captured by the surveillance cameras at the Akıncı Air Base, while communicating with the military coup plotters. The witness testimonies are also available.

Turkish authorities have sent to the US competent authorities all the material evidence summarized that night, reinforcing our request for extradition of terrorist Fetullah Gülen, as he is the mastermind behind 15 July. He has been residing in the US for years.

15 July was the most brutal attack of FETO against the Turkish nation and state. In fact, their history is loaded with many other crimes. Judging the deeds of this man and his organization only with what transpired on July 15th would be a mistake.

The crimes committed on the night of July 15th were just the tip of an iceberg.

They abused their positions and power in the state to destroy anyone who would stand in their way. Their deeds include cheating at the public examinations, racketeering, extortion, blackmail, wiretapping, orchestrating sham trials, fabricating evidence, and even murder. Most of us got our share from their very dirty tactics.

FETÖ threatened the integrity of the Turkish state and the Turkish democracy with the very sophisticated concealment methods. Whereas other terrorists strike at the state from the outside, FETÖ penetrated the state from the inside and aimed at taking control of military, police, the judiciary, revenue agencies, and even the Foreign Ministry, among others. It should be noted that thirty percent of the career officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expelled from the Ministry in the last three years as a result of rigorous and careful investigation conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It all started under the guise of a charitable education effort back in the 1970s. Terrorist Fetullah Gülen and his followers disguised themselves as a benign education movement, when they started the campaign of establishing schools in Turkey and around the world. At the peak of their power, they controlled thousands of schools in Turkey and more than eight hundred educational institutes worldwide.

In terms of their reach, they were unprecedented. We now understand that this was the first step of an infiltration campaign where kids and their parents were recruited with the seemingly innocent promise of a better education and a good job. These kids were put through school with academic and financial help and mainly a heavy hand in indoctrination. They turned into unquestioning foot soldiers of terrorist Fetullah Gülen.

The organization that disguised itself as an education movement gradually turned into a secretive operational structure aiming to transform the society by taking control of the Turkish state from within. Attaching great importance to confidentiality in its structure, and calling the confidentiality as a "precaution", the organization gives "code" names to its members apart from their real names to ensure secrecy. This is a unique and peculiar armed terrorist organization where its lower level members know each other by their code names. This is a typical "cell-type" structure of terrorist organization.

As civil servants or military personnel, FETÖ members’ loyalty was not to the nation or to the state they served. They did not care about upholding the constitution or the legal system of the country.

As its strength grew, the organization began to claim a global messianic mission, depicting terrorist Fetullah Gülen as the “Imam of the Universe”.

The crime syndicate behind all this devised and ran an integrated system that took care of recruitment through schools and cram schools; financing was taken care of by holding companies and donations from business people. The organization also established media houses to shape the public opinion for and against any person, group or idea. The terrorist FETÖ members infiltrating critical state posts abused their power to eliminate who opposed the organization, by illegal wiretapping, fabricating evidence, unlawful arrests, thereby intimidating and blackmailing a large segment of the society. Many people in Turkey who saw the organization for what it really is, got lynched by them.

Turkish judicial authorities rendered numerous conviction decisions against members of this crime syndicate due to its various criminal acts. The ongoing and finalized investigations, prosecutions and trials yielded that Fetullah Gülen is the administrator and ringleader of FETÖ armed terrorist organization and that he gave the order to stage the coup.

15 July armed coup attempt demonstrated FETÖ’s resolute to unwaveringly use terror, alongside other crimes, as a means to achieve its ultimate aim. With this act, FETÖ has clearly shown itself to the world as one of the most dangerous terrorist groups. FETÖ is present in around 160 countries, with thousands of schools, businesses, NGOs and media houses. Their modus operandi is the same all around the world. As they aim to infiltrate and enlarge their global economic and political influence, they constitute a direct security threat for any country where they operate.

First and foremost, it has been internationally understood that FETÖ is not a social movement that deals with education and charity as it tries to launch itself. It is a dark and insidious organization with political and economic ambitions. There is a clear awareness of the quality of the organization in foreign public opinion.

Various countries and international organizations have declared FETÖ as a terrorist organization. In this context; At the 43rd meeting of the OIC Foreign Ministers held on 19 October 2016, FETÖ was declared a terrorist organization; a similar decision was taken by the Asian Parliamentary Assembly on 1 December 2016; On 27 January 2017, it was confirmed at the 12th Conference of the OIC Parliamentary Union. The awareness of FETÖ in third countries has also led to the close monitoring and investigation of the activities of these elements by these countries. In various countries, FETÖ's unlawful proceedings have been revealed. Members of the organization were deported. Over 110 FETO members from more than 20 countries were deported to Turkey.

Turkey Maarif Foundation (TMV) has taken over FETÖ affiliated schools in 18 countries. FETÖ affiliated schools and language courses terminated in 36 countries.

Today, the said terrorist organization, through PR and lobbying, tries to create a grievance story, tries to give an image of victimization, and tries to be visible again in the media, strives to strengthen cooperation with the hostile circles against (enemies of) Turkey. Despite the extraordinary security challenges we face, our domestic struggle has been carried out on the basis of the rule of law, the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. Efforts have been made to avoid grievances and new mechanisms have been established to examine and resolve the alleged grievances. Our authorities will decisively continue to struggle against the said terrorist organization and its members.

Distinguihed Guests,

What I am saying, is not an exaggeration. I witnessed all these incidents and heroic resistance as an ordinary citizen. Turkish Nation as a whole stood up against this plot and heroically defended Turkish democracy against the plotters. They stood bravely in front of the tanks and reclaimed their democratic rights. It was the people of Turkey from all backgrounds and political views who thwarted the plot. They displayed a historic solidarity and defended their democracy on 15^thJuly 2016.

At this point, I want to very briefly remind the history and tradition of democracy in Turkey. Turkish democracy goes long way back to the Ottoman Empire period. Declaration of the Constitution and the opening of Parliament date back to 1876. Republic of Turkey founded in 1923 by the Turkish Grand National Assembly which was representing the Turkish Nation.

For us, the will of the people is above everything. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s proverb of “sovereignty rests unconditionally and unrestrictedly with the Nation” is in fact symbolizes the consciousness of democracy in Turkey. The principal of “sovereignty belongs to the Nation without any restriction or condition” is in fact the Article 6 of the Turkish Constitution. This principle is written on the wall just behind the Speaker of the Parliament in General Assembly Hall of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

In the light of all these, 15^th of July is designated as one of the national memorial days of Turkey under the name of “Democracy and National Unity Day”. Today we commemorate this national day. We commemorate our beloved martyrs who sacrificed their lives for Turkish democracy and the constitutional order of Turkey. We will never forget our Martyrs and our Veterans. May “Allah”, God, rest our Martyrs’ souls in peace.

Thank you.

15 July 2019

Distinguished Guests,

Distinguished Media,

Distinguished Turkish Citizens,

We come together with our Namibian friends, members of press and our citizens to commemorate our beloved Martyrs and the heroic defence of the Turkish Nation shown not to desist from democracy and constitutional order.

Three years have passed since the July 15 coup attempt by the FETÖ terrorist organization. Today, we remember that day as
Democracy and National Unity Day in Turkey.

There are important turning points in the histories of nations and states. July 15 is such a date for the Turkish Nation and the Republic of Turkey.

A few moments ago, you watched a documentary film which tells about the bloody face and insidious plans of the said terrorist organization.

On the evening of 15 July 2016, a treacherous faction in the Turkish Armed Forces attempted to stage a coup in Turkey. From the very beginning, the command chain and the vast majority of the Turkish Armed Forces and Turkish Police Forces stand up against the coup attempt.

On that date, in order to capture the Turkish Republic, terrorist Gülen and his followers within the armed forces did not shy away from using lethal military force against innocent civilians, killing 251 and wounding thousands. They tried to assassinate the President. They attacked the Prime Minister’s vehicle. They air-bombarded the Grand National Assembly. The Presidential Complex, the buildings of the National Intelligence Organization and Turkish National Police departments were attacked. The Police Special Operations Center, the crucial counter-terrorism operational body of Turkey in Ankara, was bombed by fighter jets that martyred 55 police officers and injured hundreds on the spot. Hundreds of civilians protesting the coup attempt were shot to death. The terrorist FETÖ coup plotters targeted public and private communication outlets, including TRT (state broadcasting channel) and (private tv channel) CNN Türk.

All the evidence collected so far throughout the investigations and judicial trials demonstrate that the bloodiest terrorist attack in the history of Turkey was orchestrated by FETÖ under the instructions of terrorist Fetullah Gülen. Terrorist Gülen is the mastermind behind what happened in Turkey on July 15^th



, 2016.

We have an extensive collection of factual evidence including video footage, digital materials gathered at Akıncı Air Base (the center of operations of the coup-plotters), satellite communications among plotters, the confessions of FETÖ members who actively participated in the coup attempt. There are also statements of the Turkish officers who resisted the coup attempt.

To start with a crucial evidence; the then Chief of General Staff and the current Minister of Defense, retired Full General Hulusi Akar, was held hostage by the plotters during the coup attempt at Akıncı Air Base. Officers proved to be FETÖ members, leading the coup, urged him to speak directly to terrorist Gülen, hoping to persuade him to join them. In the same military air base, some civilians were present on the night of 15 July. Those civilians were all FETÖ members, commanding the military coup-plotters throughout the night. The images of these persons were captured by the surveillance cameras at the Akıncı Air Base, while communicating with the military coup plotters. The witness testimonies are also available.

Turkish authorities have sent to the US competent authorities all the material evidence summarized that night, reinforcing our request for extradition of terrorist Fetullah Gülen, as he is the mastermind behind 15 July. He has been residing in the US for years.

15 July was the most brutal attack of FETO against the Turkish nation and state. In fact, their history is loaded with many other crimes. Judging the deeds of this man and his organization only with what transpired on July 15th would be a mistake.


The crimes committed on the night of July 15th were just the tip of an iceberg.

They abused their positions and power in the state to destroy anyone who would stand in their way. Their deeds include cheating at the public examinations, racketeering, extortion, blackmail, wiretapping, orchestrating sham trials, fabricating evidence, and even murder. Most of us got our share from their very dirty tactics.

FETÖ threatened the integrity of the Turkish state and the Turkish democracy with the very sophisticated concealment methods. Whereas other terrorists strike at the state from the outside, FETÖ penetrated the state from the inside and aimed at taking control of military, police, the judiciary, revenue agencies, and even the Foreign Ministry, among others. It should be noted that thirty percent of the career officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expelled from the Ministry in the last three years as a result of rigorous and careful investigation conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It all started under the guise of a charitable education effort back in the 1970s. Terrorist Fetullah Gülen and his followers disguised themselves as a benign education movement, when they started the campaign of establishing schools in Turkey and around the world. At the peak of their power, they controlled thousands of schools in Turkey and more than eight hundred educational institutes worldwide.




In terms of their reach, they were unprecedented. We now understand that this was the first step of an infiltration campaign where kids and their parents were recruited with the seemingly innocent promise of a better education and a good job. These kids were put through school with academic and financial help and mainly a heavy hand in indoctrination. They turned into unquestioning foot soldiers of terrorist Fetullah Gülen.

The organization that disguised itself as an education movement gradually turned into a secretive operational structure aiming to transform the society by taking control of the Turkish state from within. Attaching great importance to confidentiality in its structure, and calling the confidentiality as a "precaution", the organization gives "code" names to its members apart from their real names to ensure secrecy. This is a unique and peculiar armed terrorist organization where its lower level members know each other by their code names. This is a typical "cell-type" structure of terrorist organization.

As civil servants or military personnel, FETÖ members’ loyalty was not to the nation or to the state they served. They did not care about upholding the constitution or the legal system of the country.

As its strength grew, the organization began to claim a global messianic mission, depicting terrorist Fetullah Gülen as the “Imam of the Universe”.

The crime syndicate behind all this devised and ran an integrated system that took care of recruitment through schools and cram schools; financing was taken care of by holding companies and donations from business people. The organization also established media houses to shape the public opinion for and against any person, group or idea. The terrorist FETÖ members infiltrating critical state posts abused their power to eliminate who opposed the organization, by illegal wiretapping, fabricating evidence, unlawful arrests, thereby intimidating and blackmailing a large segment of the society. Many people in Turkey who saw the organization for what it really is, got lynched by them.

Turkish judicial authorities rendered numerous conviction decisions against members of this crime syndicate due to its various criminal acts. The ongoing and finalized investigations, prosecutions and trials yielded that Fetullah Gülen is the administrator and ringleader of FETÖ armed terrorist organization and that he gave the order to stage the coup.

15 July armed coup attempt demonstrated FETÖ’s resolute to unwaveringly use terror, alongside other crimes, as a means to achieve its ultimate aim. With this act, FETÖ has clearly shown itself to the world as one of the most dangerous terrorist groups. FETÖ is present in around 160 countries, with thousands of schools, businesses, NGOs and media houses. Their modus operandi is the same all around the world. As they aim to infiltrate and enlarge their global economic and political influence, they constitute a direct security threat for any country where they operate.

First and foremost, it has been internationally understood that FETÖ is not a social movement that deals with education and charity as it tries to launch itself. It is a dark and insidious organization with political and economic ambitions. There is a clear awareness of the quality of the organization in foreign public opinion.

Various countries and international organizations have declared FETÖ as a terrorist organization. In this context; At the 43rd meeting of the OIC Foreign Ministers held on 19 October 2016, FETÖ was declared a terrorist organization; a similar decision was taken by the Asian Parliamentary Assembly on 1 December 2016; On 27 January 2017, it was confirmed at the 12th Conference of the OIC Parliamentary Union. The awareness of FETÖ in third countries has also led to the close monitoring and investigation of the activities of these elements by these countries. In various countries, FETÖ's unlawful proceedings have been revealed. Members of the organization were deported. Over 110 FETO members from more than 20 countries were deported to Turkey.








Turkey Maarif Foundation (TMV) has taken over FETÖ affiliated schools in 18 countries. FETÖ affiliated schools and language courses terminated in 36 countries.

Today, the said terrorist organization, through PR and lobbying, tries to create a grievance story, tries to give an image of victimization, and tries to be visible again in the media, strives to strengthen cooperation with the hostile circles against (enemies of) Turkey. Despite the extraordinary security challenges we face, our domestic struggle has been carried out on the basis of the rule of law, the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. Efforts have been made to avoid grievances and new mechanisms have been established to examine and resolve the alleged grievances. Our authorities will decisively continue to struggle against the said terrorist organization and its members.

Distinguihed Guests,

What I am saying, is not an exaggeration. I witnessed all these incidents and heroic resistance as an ordinary citizen. Turkish Nation as a whole stood up against this plot and heroically defended Turkish democracy against the plotters. They stood bravely in front of the tanks and reclaimed their democratic rights. It was the people of Turkey from all backgrounds and political views who thwarted the plot. They displayed a historic solidarity and defended their democracy on 15^th





July 2016.

At this point, I want to very briefly remind the history and tradition of democracy in Turkey. Turkish democracy goes long way back to the Ottoman Empire period. Declaration of the Constitution and the opening of Parliament date back to 1876. Republic of Turkey founded in 1923 by the Turkish Grand National Assembly which was representing the Turkish Nation.

For us, the will of the people is above everything. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s proverb of “sovereignty rests unconditionally and unrestrictedly with the Nation” is in fact symbolizes the consciousness of democracy in Turkey. The principal of “sovereignty belongs to the Nation without any restriction or condition” is in fact the Article 6 of the Turkish Constitution. This principle is written on the wall just behind the Speaker of the Parliament in General Assembly Hall of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

In the light of all these, 15^th of July is designated as one of the national memorial days of Turkey under the name of “Democracy and National Unity Day”. Today we commemorate this national day. We commemorate our beloved martyrs who sacrificed their lives for Turkish democracy and the constitutional order of Turkey. We will never forget our Martyrs and our Veterans. May “Allah”, God, rest our Martyrs’ souls in peace.

Thank you.