President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan joined lawmakers for a commemoration event at Parliament on Wednesday, on the 10th anniversary of heroic resistance to the July 15, 2016 coup attempt by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).
Hailing the resistance to the coup by the nation and lawmakers who defied airstrikes targeting Parliament 10 years ago, Erdoğan warned that FETÖ was alive, especially in online black propaganda against Türkiye. He ruled out any possibility of amnesty for FETÖ members while emphasizing that the group continued collaboration with “enemies of Türkiye.”
“Though they failed 10 years ago, they are seeking to revive their sinister ambitions. They are cooperating with everyone hostile to the Turkish nation to avenge their failure," Erdoğan said in reference to the terrorist group.
"(FETÖ) is using social media to incite strife. FETÖ terrorists are servants of Türkiye’s enemies," he noted. Erdoğan stressed that they were lobbying in cooperation with anti-Turkish lobbies. "They are resorting to every lie to target Türkiye," he said. Erdoğan said, "FETÖ terrorists who sold their souls for $1 are also servants of avowed enemies of Türkiye." He was referring to $1 bills with a serial number starting with the letter F, which was used by secret members of FETÖ to recognize each other.
Erdoğan said that "the honorable nation made a sacrifice to disrupt the dirty plot" on July 15, 2016, and spoiled "the imperialist project." The president linked the accomplishments of Türkiye in the past decade, from the defense industry to security and foreign policy, to the "removal of FETÖ" from the state institutions and other places they infiltrated into.
He noted that the 2024 death of FETÖ leader Fetullah Gülen upset the motivation of the group, but they were still dangerous. "FETÖ threat is quarantined, but danger prevails. We are talking about a mindset pointing guns at this nation, we should remember that," he said.
A group of members of the group calling themselves "Yeni (New) Herkul," in reference to a website publishing Gülen's so-called sermons in the past, have penned a public letter to Erdoğan and condemned the coup attempt while seeking to redeem themselves. Erdoğan did not openly mention the letter but was blunt in his opposition to FETÖ: "Mercy for the oppressor is oppression of the innocent. We should not fall for this,” he said.
