Thousands of people gathered on the 15 July Martyrs Bridge in Istanbul on Saturday to take part in a commemorative event to mark one year since Turkey’s failed coup.
Turkish President Tayyip Erodgan arrived at the venue in a presidential car, where he is would attend the opening of a memorial located on the bridge.
More than 240 people died before the coup was shut down on July 15, 2016 – a show of popular defiance that has likely ended decades of military interference in Turkish politics.
But along with a groundswell of nationalism, the coup’s greatest legacy has been a far-reaching crackdown that has shaken Turkish society ever since.
Some 150,000 people have been reportedly sacked or suspended from jobs in the civil service and private sector with more than 50,000 detained for alleged links to the putsch.
On Friday, the government said it had dismissed another 7,000 police, civil servants and academics for suspected links to the Muslim cleric it blames for the putsch.
Critics, including rights groups and some Western governments, claimed that President Erdogan is using the state of emergency introduced after the coup to target opposition figures including rights activists, pro-Kurdish politicians and journalists.
Reuters
