The Presidency's Directorate of Communications held a panel titled "July 15: Victory of the Nation."
At the opening of the panel held at the Presidency's Directorate of Communications, Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye Numan Kurtulmuş and Head of Communications Fahrettin Altun delivered speeches.
Moderator of the first session titled “July 15 Through the Perspective of International Law”, Chairperson of the Turkish Maarif Foundation Prof Birol Akgün wished Allah's mercy upon those who were martyred on July 15.
Referring to the role of the citizens who thwarted the coup attempt, Akgün said, "If they had not made this sacrifice that night, we could have been living in a Türkiye that has entered a civil war, collapsed and become like Syria. That was the desired outcome. What was not taken into account on July 15 was the leadership of our President and the fact that the people engaged in politics as actors. The factor that anyone planning a coup d'état in Türkiye should bear in mind is the public's stance on the issue and the people's repertoire of resistance."
Vice President of the Turkish National Police Academy Prof Ufuk Ayhan stated that the Academy was restructured following the 17-25 December period and continued as follows:
"Today, our total number of chiefs is 23,993. Of these, 19,426 are chiefs who have been recently recruited. When we met and talked at the beginning of 2013, there were 19,500 chiefs, which means that 75-80 per cent of 35-40 years of experience was dismissed after the July 15. In the last 10 years, we have reached a chief staff that has been replaced by 80 per cent. 142 thousand new public officers have been appointed. We are talking about 272 thousand officers, which means the replacement of 46 per cent of the police organisation. In total, there are currently 326 thousand personnel, including 192 thousand 693 new personnel. This means that we saw 57 per cent replacement. In fact, it is a severe blow. There is no instance of this anywhere in the world. In fact, a brand new organisation was established, a major setback was suffered."
‘’These lands were entrusted to us‘’
In his speech, Recep Erdem Erkul (PhD), Member of the Executive Board of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) and Chairman of the Digital Technologies Business Council, said, "There are three important points in countries where the economy and democracy develop. Law, stability, and trust. We started to explain the process to our foreign interlocutors by prioritising these three points in the period after the coup attempt."
President of July 15 Association İsmail Hakkı Turunç also emphasised that the nation thwarted the coup attempt and said, "Motivated with the mindset that 'For us, death is not an end but a beginning,' they confronted the tanks and braved the bullets. We were born in this geography. These lands were not inherited but entrusted to us. In order to prevent a coup d'état in our country, above all, we must love each other very much."
Deputy Head of the National Intelligence Academy Assoc. Prof Yenal Göksun emphasised that it was important to archive what happened on the night of July 15th and to record them in history for further research.
Stating that the nation fulfilled its duty by showing resistance, Göksun said that immediately after the July 15 coup attempt, Türkiye countered FETO's propaganda that "the army was weakened" and eliminated the terror corridor with its operations in northern Syria.
Göksun said, "It seems that the state and the security bureaucracy have fulfilled their duties in the fight against FETO."
