Akın Deniz Ayten, a July 15 veteran living in Kırklareli, talked about that dark night when he was injured by shrapnel in Ankara during the coup attempt of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) on July 15, 2016.
Ayten, who was working as a journalist in Ankara at the time, was injured by shrapnel as a result of the bombs thrown in front of the Ankara Police Department while trying to photograph the citizens who came to the squares upon the call of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Ayten, who was treated in the hospital for a while, currently works at Kırklareli Provincial Directorate of Industry and Technology.
Ayten told the AA correspondent that he was in front of the Ankara Police Department that night both to defend the national will as a citizen and to witness history as a journalist.
Stating that he witnessed the brutality of the coup plotters' attacks, Ayten stated that it was impossible for him to forget what happened that night.
Stating that people took to the streets just to claim their national will, Ayten said:
"We saw very terrible things. Traitors who usurped the uniforms of the Turkish Armed Forces shot and massacred people who had no weapons in their hands and only went out on the streets with their flags. We saw our martyrs and wounded in the streets. God did not give them the opportunity. They could not achieve their goals. Ultimately, thanks to the determination and unity of our nation, we protected our future together."
Explaining that she never thought traitors could be so cruel, Ayten emphasized that what happened was never erased from her memory.
Stating that he was injured due to the bombs thrown in front of Ankara Police Department, Ayten described those moments as follows:
"We were with thousands of people in front of the Ankara Police Department. First, shrapnel pieces hit my fingers and my fingers were broken. One of the shrapnel fragments of the explosion grazed my ear. Then I lost consciousness. People I did not know took me to Numune Hospital. The hospital was very crowded. Then we were transferred to the hospital in Dışkapı. We saw the gravity of the real incident there. There were martyrs and many seriously injured people. We were a little luckier, we survived lightly."
"May God never let this nation experience such a day again"
Stating that he is always ready to act with the same determination for his homeland, flag and nation, Ayten said that the unity and solidarity of the Turkish nation is an example to the whole world.
Drawing attention to the importance of the epic written on the night of July 15, Ayten said:
"God protected the Turkish nation from a great trouble. There, I saw that as long as this nation is united, there is no obstacle that it cannot overcome. The nation stood tall against a group that tried to overthrow the government and eliminate the sovereignty of the nation with heavy weapons and F-16s in their hands. It is really difficult to describe the adrenaline experienced at that moment. Some of the things you do are not done consciously. Now, if they say that you will run towards a tank or stand there while automatic weapons are being opened fire, it would sound very logical. "It may not come, but when you think about what might happen next, you feel the need to stand up for your country. This is a person's duty to his country. People with different political views took to the streets that night to protect the ballot box, the President, the Parliament and indeed their own will."