Turkish Ambassador to Benin Onur Ozçeni hosted a press conference on Wednesday July 13, 2022, in his residence in Cotonou. On the menu of this meeting with men from the media, the celebration of the victory of the Turkish people on the evening of July 15, 2016 against the attack of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO). Six years later, Türkiye, while commemorating the victory of the people, continues its resolute fight against FETO.
“On the evening of July 15, 2016, the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO) launched an attempted coup against the people and government of my country. Its goal was to establish a radical fundamentalist regime, loyal only to their leader Fetullah Gülen. Army units affiliated with FETO left their barracks to occupy key locations, such as the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, fighter jets and attack helicopters bombarded strategic targets, including the Parliament, the presidential election, army and police headquarters,” recalled Turkish Ambassador Onur Ozçeni. According to him, thousands of civilians took to the streets to put an end to this attempt. Unfortunately, the plotters killed 251 innocent civilians and injured thousands. “That night, the Turkish people defended democracy by putting their lives on the line. This heroic response was something that the conspirators had not foreseen”, underlined the Head of Turkish diplomacy in Benin. For the diplomat, this resistance of the Turkish people was intended to defend the established order and the Turkish democratic regime, reflected in the appearance on television of the President of the Republic, who himself was being tracked by a commando which provoked the people’s reaction. “Since then, July 15 has been celebrated as the ‘Day of Democracy and National Unity’,” the ambassador said, while emphasizing that this Friday, it will be commemorated in the country and around the world this event as well as the heroes who paid with their lives for their valiant resistance. “If the coup attempt had succeeded, there would have been a very different Türkiye today. Democracy would not have existed and fundamental rights and freedoms would have been suspended indefinitely. The nation would have fallen into the hands of a FETO government,” he said before telling me that terrorism has no nationality, ethnicity or religion. He urges the international community to show solidarity with Türkiye in the fight against terrorism. Six years after July 15, 2016, Turkey, while commemorating the victory of the people, continues its resolute fight against FETO, just as it continues its fight against other terrorist organizations such as the PKK, the PYD-YPG, the DHKP-C and DAESH.
