Coup bid ‘will strengthen Turkey’

ISTANBUL: President Tayyip Erdogan told a rally of more than a million people yesterday that last month’s failed coup would be a milestone in building a stronger Turkey.

He vowed to destroy those behind the effort.

The Democracy and Martyrs Rally at the Yenikapi parade ground, on the southern edge of Istanbul, was a show of strength by Erdogan, who has been angered by European criticism of his combative response to the coup and by US reluctance to hand over the man he accuses of masterminding it.

Banners in a sea of red Turkish flags read “You are a gift from God, Erdogan” and “Order us to die and we will do it”. It was the first time in decades that opposition leaders joined a rally in support of the government, with pockets of secularists, nationalists and others alongside his core Islamist supporters.

“That night, our enemies who were rubbing their hands in anticipation of Turkey’s downfall woke up the next morning to the grief that things would be more difficult from now on,” Erdogan said of the July 15 abortive coup, drawing parallels to times when Turkey was occupied by foreign forces.

“From now on, we will examine very carefully who we have under us. We will see who we have in the military, who we have in the judiciary, and throw the others out of the door.”

The parade ground was overflowing, with the streets of surrounding neighbourhoods clogged. One presidency official put the numbers at around 5 million. – Reuters