Turkey to build museum to remember victims of failed coup

ANKARA

Turkey’s Culture Ministry has prepared designs for a major new museum outside Ankara to remember the defeat of the failed July 15 coup that attempted to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on April 9.

Work will start on the museum – to be called the “Museum of the July 15 Martyrs and Democracy” – starting in June. The museum is expected to open its doors to visitors at the end of 2018, the agency said.

The facility will be built on one hectare of area in Kahramankazan outside Ankara with a modern cuboid design, it said.

There will be permanent, temporary and interactive exhibits on the “martyrs and warriors” of July 15 while other facilities will include a library, cafe and gift shop, it said.

The coup attempt erupted on the night of July 15 when a disgruntled group of army officers launched military action to remove Erdoğan, bombing state buildings in Ankara from war planes, opening fire around Istanbul and closing main bridges.

The coup was put down due to the efforts of loyalist soldiers and police officers and pro-government civilians.

The leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, last week claimed that the foiled attempt was a “controlled coup” that the authorities knew about in advance. Erdoğan retorted that such comments were an insult to the 249 people killed by the coup soldiers.