Column: Case on attempted assassination of Erdoğan, remembering July 15

İbrahim KaragülBY: İbrahim Karagül*

Those who staged the July 15 coup attempt and civil war project knew very well what kind of duty they were tasked with, what kind of international project July 15 was, that they were not carrying out a coup but actually implementing an invasion plan in the strictest sense, who was among the project’s partners both inside and outside, that the terror boss in Pennsylvania – the murderer of our martyrs who washed these lands with their blood that night – has a boss too, what kind of methods were used to give orders and who was giving them, and what kind of treason they were taking part in.

On July 15, they had no doubt, they did not hesitate at all. Do not pay any attention to all their current cries, complaints and false statements. They were programmed to kill, to destroy, to make the country kneel and to submit to their leader. They were set to blindly betray their country on that night when they were massacring civilians on the streets until morning. They were sure of themselves, their self-confidence and arrogance had hit the roof. They were giving orders to shoot and kill.

No country has ever faced such betrayal

They had aircraft, tanks and all kinds of weapons in their possession. If necessary, they would turn the country into a bloodbath, massacring thousands of people, but they would do justice to this task. This is what their pro-Atlantic boss had ordered. For years they had been reared for that day. This is how their identities and personalities had been shaped.

Using religion and faith as a cover for these vicious plans, they worked everywhere around the world for the CIA and prepared for plans to turn Turkey into Syria and divide it into pieces. No country has ever faced such betrayal. There has been no such vileness in any period of our political history.

But they were aware of the crime they were committing, the severity of the harm they were doing to Turkey and which country and which intelligence agencies they would seek refuge in when they got into trouble. They had taken an oath to divide the country, make the people kill each other, to prepare an environment for civil war together with terrorist organizations and to give again hand over Turkey as a hostage to the Atlantic axis with the intelligence networks they have stationed in every corner of Anatolia.

They shot at our people, sold out the country

Those who were afraid of Turkey taking a step toward an honorable and strong future, making a turning point in history again after a century, those who were afraid of it advancing in this direction with giant steps, had attempted an outside intervention with this intelligence gang they gathered and reared for years and had tasked Fetullah Gülen and his terrorist organization’s hitmen for the biggest destruction this country has seen since World War I.

They shot at our country. They shot at our people. They betrayed our history, they sold out Anatolia and when they failed, they took refuge under the wings of their master.

Hired men will do the West’s dirty work

They are going to be remembered in our political history forever as criminals and traitors. Now, they are all being protected like Gurkhas in the U.S., Germany and other European countries. They could be preparing for other operations. Because one who sells out their homeland will sell out anything, and they are in this position.

Now, they are going to do whatever they are instructed to do. They are going to carry out the West’s dirty work. They are going to continue to attack Turkey from the outside. There will be organizations in the future that are tasked with terrorism. There will no longer be major plans like those of July 15 made through them. They will be used for covert operations. They will vanish from the face of the earth, with no homeland and no identity.

We will never forget that night

The court proceedings for soldiers involved in the coup attempt have started and are watching the hearings and testimonies. The evening of July 15, those bitter hours, the martyrs who changed not only Turkey’s, but also the region’s political history that night flash past our eyes one by one. Hundreds of thousands of people pouring into the streets, stopping the tanks and standing up to them flash past our eyes. A reared up nation challenging the world flashes past our eyes. And those hired hitmen, murderers, those who betrayed Anatolian history, the hitmen of the plan to invade Turkey also flash past our eyes.

We will never forget it. We will not allow it to be forgotten in any way. A nation that was crushed under World War I, a nation that has tried to remain standing for the past century, a nation that is back on the rise again and has made a turning point in history a century later, faced a multinational intervention. The hitmen of the intervention were chosen from inside in an attempt to stop Turkey through Gülen and his terrorist organization.

They were going to set up the gallows

The political will that brought Turkey to these days was going to be eliminated. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his inner circle were going to be eliminated. They were going to topple the government like they tried in Egypt and Ukraine. They would not only oust the government, but make sure the country could never get back on its feet. The backbone shaping the new political wave would be divided, broken up and rendered ineffective and a national political discourse would never again be allowed.

The project they were trying to implement was much greater than the military coups Turkey had witnessed in past decades. The country’s next century would be destroyed, a Turkish front would be opened through Syria, an invasion would start through Gülen’s soldiers and Istanbul’s European side would be surrendered. Half the nation would be declared traitors and prison camps would be built like those in Iraq with gallows set up for the political leaders.

The people sentenced them to death

The hearing of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) team that went to Marmaris to assassinate Erdoğan started yesterday. Based on the testimonies of these people whom no lawyer even wants to defend, it is clear as day that they know everything and that they were aware of their actions and the task they were given.

Regardless of how they plead, they have been sentenced to death in the nation’s conscience. Every one of them will be remembered as members of the outside invasion attempt. They will go down in history as traitors.

The biggest target, most critical duty

They were the ones who assumed the most critical duty of the task. They were ordered to kill the president, which they attempted to fulfill. This is because Erdoğan is making a turning point in history, changing political history and rocking the global power map. The history-making backbone was turning into a power under his history-making leadership. Hence, he became the main target, and this is why those on trial today were given this most critical duty.

If they had killed Erdoğan and the plan had been successful, all the anti-Turkey countries, everyone who is disturbed by Turkey’s rise, all the powers that have wanted to take revenge for centuries-old history and all those who are fans of the Treaty of Sevres would rejoice while the country mourns.

The ‘critical threshold’ and April 16

But they failed. They will never be able to succeed. This turning point in history is going to continue for centuries. Turkey is very close to overcoming the critical threshold in which such plots will become meaningless. In this sense, April 16 is one of the important steps. I am confident that it will be overcome and that our nation will continue the great movement. This is a very powerful wave and everyone, every political movement, every covert operation that stood in front of the wave, has become ineffective, weakened and vanished. I believe the same will happen on April 16.

*Ibrahim Karagül is a Turkish writer and journalist. He is the editor-in-chief of Turkish Yeni Şafak newspaper.

(Published in Yeni Şafak Turkish newspaper on Feb. 21, 2017)