When I landed in Ankara at around 3 p.m. on July 15, I did not yet know that the city would be targeted by terrorists with F-16 jets and helicopters within a few hours. I was also in Ankara when DAESH and PKK militants conducted suicide bombing in the city. So this is not the first time I bore witness to a terrorist assault in this city, but this time the scale of the attack was much more horrifying and incomparable to the other ones in many aspects. Since the night of July 15, I know very well what it means to be under the bombardment of warplanes. Now I can better relate to the suffering of our Syrian brothers and sisters who are under the constant bombardments by Syrian and Russian warplanes.

On July 15, the Turkish public did not yet know what they were about to go through until around 10 p.m. The nightmare began at around 10:30 p.m., then the citizens of the Republic of Turkey gradually realized what kind of a disaster was about to happen.

As a politician who experienced the military coup on Sept. 12, 1980, I realized the gravity of the danger from the first signals. I happened to be in Ankara while the capital was going through a fascistic and inhumane military coup attempt. I observed and experienced one of the hardest moments in Republican history that night, in which some militants of the Gülenist Terror Organization (FETÖ) in military uniforms attempted to seize control of Turkey with heavy weapons.

Particularly the people in Europe and the U.S. who are informed about Turkey's agenda are familiar with Fethullah Gülen. The FETÖ is known for its motivation to expand by exploiting Islam and does not essentially have any difference from other terrorist organizations like DAESH and the PKK. Until the moment of attack, I could not even guess how far the FETÖ's militants could go, as they are trained from very early ages under the guise of education and situated in various state institutions as sleepers. Raising and training their militants as early as kindergarten, the organization plants its seeds in young brains by categorizing girls and boys into different groups and having them controlled by their superiors. No one could predict that the generals, colonels, pilots, judges, prosecutors and people from various occupations who are affiliated with the FETÖ would be ready to obey Gülen's commands at all costs and kick off their plans to stage a coup in Turkey on July 15.

The level of action and atrocity that night was reminiscent of a Hollywood blockbuster, but unfortunately, it was all real.

The militants attacked a hotel in the Mediterranean town of Marmaris in an attempt to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his family. Then they bombed Parliament and tried to murder the 100 deputies who were inside the building. They also bombed the Ankara Police Department and the headquarters of special operations in Ankara's Gölbaşı district numerous times. Thankfully, they did not achieve their aims. This latest attempt was on such a scale that it is incomparable to other military coups around the world, including the fascist General Augusto Pinochet's coup that overthrew the democratically elected President Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973.

If the militants had managed to seize control over the government, Turkey would have entered a horrendous period that would have been even darker than the previous coup experiences in 1960, 1972 and 1980. I would not be able to write these words had this scenario come to pass. If I had been lucky enough to survive, I would now be waiting for the time of my torture at one of the stadiums where thousands would be imprisoned.

For this plan, many generals, admirals, colonels, captains and pilots who were brainwashed for decades by the Gülen Movement, acted like killing machines against unarmed civilians who tried to guard and protect democracy by taking to the streets of Ankara and Istanbul until the militants were rendered ineffective as a result of the Turkish people's resistance and police officers' courageous fight.

I witnessed tanks run over and kill many people standing up against them in Ankara. I also saw the Gülenist soldiers open fire on civilians from military helicopters and the General Staff office they occupied. They are inhumane creatures venturing to kill thousands of people to seize control. Fortunately, Turkey has a leader who is ready to defend democracy at all costs.

Despite the constant threats he faced, including the special teams motivated to kill him and F-16s that attempted to down his plane and kill him in Istanbul when he got off the plane, Erdoğan managed to address the public first via FaceTime from his telephone and then directly twice. He called on people to take to the streets and protect democracy. Upon his call, people poured into the streets despite the militants' declaration of a curfew, and thanks to that courageous behavior by the people, Turkey was relieved from the danger of being victimized by Gülen's fascism.

Millions of people all around the country resisted the tanks intimidating them. Mayors blocked the roads to military posts with vans, cranes and firetrucks. The police conducted an armed resistance to the thousands of militants in military uniforms in order to defend Turkey.

Thousands of people rushed toward airports, military outposts and military offices. They prevented the militants' mobility, risking their lives. They repelled the Gülenist soldiers by acting together with police in front of the buildings of some media corporations that coup attempters tried to raid. They crowded into the state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) and CNN Türk TV station, which the militants raided, and managed to take back the stations.

In a nutshell, the gallant citizens of Turkey protected democracy and Erdoğan, who had been elected by popular vote. Turkey set an example for the rest of the world by defending democracy.

While F-16s were flying over Ankara and bombing the city, prayers came from all the mosques and the loudspeakers of the mosques never fell silent, which was very precious and meaningful. Even under the terror of F-16s, it was morale boosting and motivating to hear the sounds of calls to prayer and other prayers resonating from mosques. This feeling can be understood only through experience.

A total of 161 of our people were killed while struggling for democracy while more than 1,000 were injured. While I am writing this article, funerals are being held all across Turkey, and Turkey is calling the terrorists to account. The police are still conducting raids at military outposts and air bases while risking clashes. The public is still out in the squares because the danger is not completely eradicated yet. However, it is certain that the people will not leave this country to the hands of Gülen's uniformed terrorists.

Now it is time for EU countries and the U.S. to take some action. Gülen is currently living in the U.S. and some leading members of the organization are in various EU countries. They have formed illegal networks especially in Germany and Belgium.

Turkey's brave people rightfully think that the solidarity messages issued by U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were not sincere.

If Obama, Merkel, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker and others want to sound sincere in their messages to condemn the terrorist assault on July 15, they have to cut all support that enables the FETÖ. Until recently, European Parliament had issued innumerable statements advocating the FETÖ. If they really want to side with Turkey's 78 million citizens who defended their democracy by risking their lives, they must immediately take the required measures against Gülen. We are waiting for their action.