Failed 2016 coup attempt launched over Türkiye's pro-Palestine stance: Erdoğan

ANKARA

The defeated 2016 coup attempt in Türkiye sought to topple the country's democratically elected government after it became more vocal in its support for Palestine, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday.

"The strong support from us and our government for the Palestinian cause disturbed the global Zionist lobby and the agents of influence within us," Erdoğan said at an event in the capital Ankara, marking the eighth anniversary of the deadly coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

As Türkiye increasingly followed a diverging foreign policy, the "uneasiness of these centers became evident," he added during his speech on Democracy and National Unity Day, a national holiday that Türkiye has since observed annually.

Since its 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 beating back the putschists and to remember the bravery of the nation.

The defeated coup bid, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 were wounded, was plotted and carried out by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) and its U.S.-based leader Fethullah Gulen.

Turkish officials have requested that the U.S. extradite FETÖ ringleader Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania, to face Turkish justice, but U.S. officials have not granted the request.

Ankara also accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

During his address, Erdoğan made a reference to a 2009 encounter with then-Israeli President Shimon Peres, who he challenged at the World Economic Forum over Tel Aviv's oppression of Palestinians with the now-famous objection, "One minute!"

"The flare of July 15th was actually fired right after our 'One Minute' stand," he said.

In the heated debate in Davos over Israel's operations against Gaza in 2009, Erdoğan told Peres "When it comes to killing you know very well how to kill. I know very well how you killed children on the beaches." Then he stormed out of the stage protesting the moderator for not giving him enough time to speak.

Erdoğan stressed that Türkiye's anger and pain over the coup attempt remain fresh despite the passage of eight years. "Our determination to fight against FETÖ and tutelage is as alive, strong, and resolute as they were on the first day," said the Turkish president.

Calling FETÖ a "treason network" targeting Türkiye, Erdoğan said members of the terror group would be remembered with "hatred not eight years later, but even 80 years later."

"FETÖ's scoundrels, who took orders from charlatans abroad and infringed upon our homeland, have gone down in our history as a black stain with the blood they shed," he said.