July 15: The night people defeated tanks in Türkiye

It has been nine years since military tanks rolled across the bridges over the Bosphorus Strait and fighter jets fired on Turkish civilians. July 15 marks the anniversary of a failed coup attempt that has left a permanent mark on the collective psyche of Türkiye, its politics and diplomacy.

253 people, many of them civilians, were killed and more than 2,000 wounded, as they stood up to a renegade group of armed soldiers loyal to the FETO terror group. They came in armoured vehicles, unleashing machine guns against their fellow countrymen.

Anyone who was in Istanbul, Türkiye’s biggest city and home to grandiose Ottoman palaces and beautiful mosques, will talk about the fear low-flying F-16 jets struck in their hearts as they zoomed past breaking the sound barrier. 

But despite those fears, thousands poured out onto the streets of major cities, including the capital Ankara, as an act of defiance. 

As it became apparent that a group of soldiers wanted to dislodge a democratically elected government, tens of thousands of Turkish people came out of their homes around midnight to protest against the coup attempt. 

They fought at key locations of Istanbul and Ankara, confronting the putschists on bridges, outside the parliament building, and other significant locations. The protesters resisted with whatever they could get their hands on — rocks, sign-poles and even shoes.

Shocking mobile phone recordings made rounds on social media: a civilian man was run over by a tank as he stood in front of it; a woman was shot dead in cold blood; police commandos, including many female officers, lost their lives defending their posts and headquarters. 

The coup plotters bombed the parliament building in Ankara and made an attempt on the life of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who barely managed to survive what many consider was either an assassination or kidnapping plot. 

In subsequent weeks after the coup failed, Turkish prosecutors gathered evidence confirming that the treason was instigated by cult leader Fetullah Gulen, the head of the FETO terror group. Gulen, died in 2024 in the United States, where he had lived a life of comfort and privilege.

A people transformed

Türkiye’s politics and history have been marred by multiple coups. Its first democratically elected leader, the former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, was executed by the junta in 1961 — after the country’s first military coup. 

By 2016, the military was facing a different kind of public — one that had fought hard for its democratic voice and had seen its fruits in the form of economic growth, infrastructure, subways, and public transport improvements. Türkiye had a lot at stake on the night of July 15. 

Yet Türkiye’s defiance in the face of adversity was not appreciated by some of its closest friends — governments that never tire of commemorating the Tank Man of Tiananmen Square conveniently ignored the sacrifice of Turkish civilians. 

Türkiye’s western allies, including its NATO partners, were too slow in condemning the coup — a fact that Joe Biden, who back then was US vice president, acknowledged during his visit to Türkiye a month after the coup attempt. 

For Ankara, which played an important role in the fight against Daesh (ISIS) and took upon itself the daunting task of housing millions of Syrian refugees, the silence over the failed coup was nothing short of a betrayal. 

In the months following the failed coup attempt as Turkish prosecutors and courts began charging the putschists, some European lawmakers started raising concerns regarding the rights of the accused. This further infuriated the Turkish leadership. 

The US, which is Türkiye's traditional ally since the end of World War II, did little to investigate Gulen, who continued to live in the state of Pennsylvania until his death, his vast network of businesses in the US largely unchallenged. 

On its part, Türkiye says it provided all the necessary evidence to Washington to start legal proceedings against the FETO leader.

Despite the lack of support from Western allies, the Turkish people displayed a remarkable resolve in defending their democracy. 

For millions of Turks to rise up in such an unprecedented manner against mutinous soldiers meant they had collectively sent out a message: one that says never again.

This article was originally published in 2021 and has been updated for accuracy and relevance.