President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made an unannounced visit to a rehabilitation center in capital Ankara where he met Turgut Aslan, the police anti-terror unit chief who was shot in the head by putschists during the July 15 coup bid last year. Aslan was recovering at the center for veterans after undergoing surgery for deep wounds on his head.
The police chief was invited to the Gendarmerie General Command in Ankara on July 15 by putschists for "an emergency meeting." Not aware that the place was taken over by pro-coup troops, Aslan was held hostage in the place before putschists shot him in the head and left Aslan for dead. He was immediately hospitalized by anti-coup security forces who quelled the putsch bid in the early hours of July 16. Erdoğan is credited with thwarting the coup attempt by urging the public to take to the streets to confront the putschists.
The unarmed stand of thousands of civilians against tanks and heavily armed soldiers, an unprecedented move, helped quell the bid. The president and dignitaries will attend a series of events to commemorate the first anniversary of the coup bid in the coming days, which will be marked in critical locations targeted by putschists including a bridge in Istanbul and the presidential palace in Ankara.
