– The huge rally to mark the defeat of the July 15 attempted coup was another blow for Turkey’s enemies, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday, reported Anadolu Agency.
Speaking at the Democracy and Martyrs’ Rally in Istanbul’s Yenikapi district, he said: “Our presence today upsets our enemies just like it did on the morning of July 16.
“On that night there were people who risked their lives to stop the coup and they filled the streets. History will remember names of our martyrs… in golden letters.”
Erdogan said Turkey would now take a “path in solidarity” in the future.
The president was the final speaker to address a crowd that police said numbered nearly 5 million people.
It was the first time the leaders of the Justice and Development (AK) Party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) had shared a platform.
Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and Turkey’s top cleric Mehmet Gormez also attended.
The Yenikapi event is the highlight of weeks of “democracy watch” rallies held in cities across the country since the defeated coup, which led to 240 deaths.
Turkey’s government has said the coup was organized by the followers of Fetullah Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. since 1999.
