On the July 15 Democracy and National Unity Day, Türkiye marked the 6th anniversary of the failed coup attempt, which took place on July 15, 2016, with a number of memorial activities for the martyrs who had confronted the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).
Issuing a message on July 15, the Democracy and National Unity Day, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said “On the night of July 15 coup attempt, banding together and staging an epic resistance against putschists, we defended our Republic, our democracy and all of our achievements at the cost of our lives. We showed that Türkiye can never be taken hostage and the Turkish people can never be brought to their knees."
Addressing citizens gathered in Saraçhane, Istanbul, President Erdoğan also said, “Having dispersed with the Çanakkale Victory the dark clouds that had gathered over them with the Balkan Wars, our people had added with the National Struggle a new ring to their history, which is full of glory and dignity. On the night of July 15, we, together as 85 million people, once again proved it to foes and friends alike that our Republic, not the first but the last state of ours, will live forever on the basis of the superiority of national will."
Several monuments across the country, such as the Galata Tower and the Ataturk Cultural Center in Istanbul, were illuminated for the commemoration. People visited the July 15 Memorial Museum to pay tribute to martyrs as funeral prayers echoed at midnight across the country.