Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the nation will not allow the July 15, 2016, defeated coup to be forgotten and erased from memory no matter how much time passes.
Speaking at the “Heroes of the Century of Türkiye” event on Saturday, Erdogan said: "just as we know the traitors from FETO, we have also recorded entities that support traitors in a way that will not be erased from our memory."
"We will never forget July 15, nor let it be forgotten... Not only did we repel a bloody and treacherous coup attempt, but we also wrote an epic that will be passed down from generation to generation," Erdogan said.
Attending the July 15 Democracy and National Unity Day commemoration ceremony in Istanbul, Erdogan said the coup attempt aimed to create a division between the Turkish nation and the Turkish army.
"We declared to the whole world that our country wouldn't surrender to tanks, artillery, aircrafts or weapons," he said.
Since its official designation in October 2016, every year the nation marks July 15 as Democracy and National Unity Day, with events held nationwide to commemorate those who lost their lives defeating the putschists and to remember the bravery of the nation.
Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup, which left 252 people dead and 2,734 injured.
