Over 120,000 people have visited the July 15 Democracy Museum in the capital Ankara since its inauguration two years ago by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the fifth anniversary of the failed coup.
Built across from the Presidential Complex, the museum aims to inform visitors about the July 15, 2016 coup attempt that killed 251 people and injured 2,734 others.
Through video installations, photos and personal belongings of coup victims, the museum narrates stories of the coup attempt, orchestrated by military infiltrators of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).
Consisting of eight different galleries named "Coups in Türkiye and Around the World," "Threat of a Bullet," "Drown into the Darkness," "The Longest Night," "Those Who Leave a Trace," "Sela," "Respect to Martyrs" and "Democracy Watches," the museum visitors are reminded of the spirit of unity that prevented the uprising.
Through digital methods, the museum's sonic light section where the visitors pass under the tank accompanied by sound and light effects aims to inform future generations about what happened on July 15, 2016.
The museum also features the photographs and biographies of each martyr through prism-shaped sections; whereas the last section of the facility is adorned with a glass dome and a plane tree, symbolizing Türkiye's past with its roots and its bright future with its branches and leaves.
There are 90 silicon sculptures representing the people holding a democracy watch after July 15 under the largest artificial tree in the country with a length of 23 meters (75.5 feet).
"It is a museum, with its hall of 'Coups in Türkiye and around the world,' that welcomes our visitors to experience the grief of the July 15 coup attempt and the justified pride of the Turkish people at the highest level, with the most intense emotions," Veysi Gün, the director of the museum told Anadolu Agency (AA).
The museum remained open every day between, 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., except for Mondays, and received close to 10,000 visitors on the first day of its inauguration and approximately 120,000 individuals in the period since then, Gün noted.
