Abdülhamit Bilici*
What would have happened if the July 15, 2016, coup attempt in Turkey had succeeded? The constitution would have been suspended, a state of emergency declared; politicians arrested, political parties put under pressure; opposition journalists and academics silenced; and a witch hunt launched throughout the state and society.
Although July 15 failed, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan subsequently imposed many of those same measures. A prolonged state of emergency enabled mass arrests and dismissals, the closure of media outlets and civil society organizations and an extensive purge throughout the government and society.
The case of Gen. Akın Öztürk, portrayed by prosecutors as a leading figure in the coup attempt, raises further questions. A 2024 opinion by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that his detention was arbitrary and that the government had failed to establish a legal basis for reasonable suspicion against him. Although the UN finding did not determine his guilt or innocence, it dealt a serious blow to one of the central cases underpinning the official account of July 15.
For me, this and the many unanswered questions about that night reinforce the conclusion that July 15 was exploited and possibly orchestrated by Erdoğan and his allies to dismantle Turkey’s remaining democratic safeguards and establish one-man rule.
Isn’t it telling that Erdoğan described this bloody and tragic event as “a gift from God”; that former prime minister Binali Yıldırım, when asked about the most difficult or unpleasant project of his premiership, answered that July 15 was “the project I disliked”; and that Erdoğan’s son-in-law, Berat Albayrak, has been quoted as calling it a “successful operation”?
And isn’t one of the real reasons Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş remains imprisoned that he challenged the official narrative, declaring that “July 15 is the bloodiest conspiracy in recent history”?
Although the formal charges and convictions against him concern other alleged offenses, his continued imprisonment cannot be separated from his outspoken opposition to Erdoğan or his willingness to question the government’s account of July 15.
In psychology, Erdoğan, Yıldırım and Albayrak’s striking choice of words might be described as Freudian slips, the unintentional expression of thoughts or motives that a person subconsciously suppresses or seeks to conceal.
Whatever their intended meaning, these remarks are striking because the political consequences of July 15 overwhelmingly benefited Erdoğan. What followed was not merely a response to an attempted coup but a sweeping transformation of the Turkish state.
The intended objectives were achieved: the de facto suspension of the constitution, the destruction of the rule of law and democracy, the witch hunt against hundreds of thousands of citizens who refused to submit, and the neutralization of political opponents and independent media as Erdoğan consolidated his one-man rule.
These outcomes, combined with the countless unanswered questions surrounding the events of that night, make July 15 resemble Turkey’s Reichstag fire: a violent national trauma used to justify the dismantling of democratic institutions and the concentration of power.
In my view Erdoğan and those who enabled or supported this process bear political and moral responsibility for the suffering and injustices that followed, as well as a responsibility to answer the unresolved questions surrounding the deaths of citizens that night. Unless Turkey confronts the truth about July 15 and its aftermath, its return to the rule of law and democracy will unfortunately remain impossible.
Even Erdoğan’s warm relations today with the United Arab Emirates and the United States undermine some of the accusations promoted by Erdoğan and his allies after July 15. The Turkish government officially blamed the faith-based Gülen movement for the coup attempt despite the movement’s strong denial, while its supporters repeatedly accused Washington of protecting the alleged perpetrators and alleged that the UAE had supported the coup attempt.
The government renamed the Bosporus Bridge the “July 15 Martyrs Bridge,” yet illuminated the nearby Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in red, white and blue to mark the United States’ 250th anniversary and Independence Day on July 4. The display prompted debate on social media, particularly because pro-government figures have repeatedly accused the United States of involvement in the events of July 15. The contrast exposes the gulf between the government’s accusatory rhetoric and its diplomatic pragmatism. It would be laughable if it were not so tragic.
My hope is that despite all efforts to suppress and obscure the truth, the real face of July 15 will soon be revealed; that society will come to see who the true patriots are and who the real traitors are; that those responsible for this bloody conspiracy will be held accountable; and that justice will finally be served for the hundreds of thousands of innocent people who suffered in its aftermath.
*Abdülhamit Bilici is the former editor-in-chief of the now-defunct Zaman daily who currently lives in exile in Washington, D.C.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Turkish Minute.