"Memory, Resistance and Democracy Panel" was held in Samsun on the 10th anniversary of the July 15 coup attempt.
Samsun University Rector Prof. Dr. Mahmut Aydın, in his speech at the panel held at the Martyr Ömer Halisdemir Conference Hall, said that the emphasis should not be on coups happening to them, but on what should be done to prevent the attempts from being repeated.
Stating that similar events will be repeated before the codes of mentalities such as FETO are solved, Aydın said, "Every organization emerges as the product of a certain way of thinking, a certain understanding of morality. Organizations may be liquidated, their leaders may die, their institutions may be dispersed, but as long as the mentality that makes them possible is not solved, the same thought patterns will re-emerge under different names, different structures, different discourses. For this reason, we must devote the second decade of July 15 to the fight against the mentality that produced it, as well as the fight against the organization." he said.
Explaining that in closed structures such as FETO, the truth ceases to be a common quest and only one person's interpretation gains importance, Aydın said, "Over time, the leader becomes the person who defines the religion rather than just telling it. Thus, the Quran is replaced by interpretation, the interpretation is replaced by the leader, and the leader is replaced by absolute authority. Criticism ceases to be a scientific activity and is considered as disloyalty and betrayal. After this point, the individual stops searching for the truth and considers it sufficient to follow the leader instead of learning the truth. This was exactly the mentality that FETO built. "What was decisive for the members of the organization was not what the Quran said, but what the leader understood from the Quran." he said.
Ankara Social Sciences University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Head of International Relations Department, Prof. Dr. Muhittin Ataman stated that the coup attempt can be understood by looking at the issue from a Western perspective.
Pointing out that he looked at how Western sites made news on the night of July 15, Ataman said, "All Western states hated the morning when Türkiye woke up. They started to denigrate the Turkish administration from that night. They were disappointed after the failure of the July 15 coup attempt. That night, American officials were calling for normalization, that is, they were against taking to the streets." he said.
Journalist and writer Turan Kışlakçı also stated that the entire geography, from Asia to Africa, has experienced a history of coups.
Pointing out that the coups started with the date of Israel's establishment, Kışlakçı said:
"After 1947-48, this geography witnessed coups. It started in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and there were coups in Türkiye. There were coups again in Iraq, in Indonesia, Pakistan, Africa, Latin America. This geography experienced hundreds of coups after the Second World War until 1990, that is, until the end of the Cold War. The children of that geography lost their lives in these coups."
Samsun Governor Orhan Tavlı, Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Brigadier General Mustafa Bakçepınar, Provincial Police Chief Ahmet Arıbaş, Samsun Regional Administrative Court President Mehmet Barış, academicians and citizens attended the program.