July 15 Democracy and National Unity Day was commemorated with programs held in Marmaris district of Muğla.
A series of commemoration events were held in Marmaris, one of the important centers of the treacherous coup attempt on July 15, 2016. The program started in the morning with the 'Respect for the Martyrs of Democracy Bicycle Competition', which was started by Muğla Governor İdris Akbıyık. After the competition, the winning athletes were given their awards. As part of the activities that continued throughout the day, the families of police officer Nedim Cengiz Eker, who was martyred in FETO's treacherous coup attempt, and Commissioner Gülşah Güler, who was martyred in Ankara Gölbaşı, were visited and a Mawlid was read.
In the evening, the car cortege started from the 15 July Democracy Square, and then the cortege started in front of the old municipality building and continued to Marmaris Atatürk Square with Turkish flags in their hands. At the ceremony in the square, the recitation of the Holy Quran was read by Muğla Provincial Mufti. Then, Martyr Nedip Cengiz Eker's father Nihat Eker, Muğla Governor İdris Akbıyık and the provincial protocol made speeches stating the meaning and importance of the day. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's video message on July 15 was also shown to the participants on the giant screen. The young people who performed the flag run delivered the flag to Muğla Governor İdris Akbıyık. Immediately after the flag run, poems special to July 15 were read. The mehter band performance that took the stage after the poems was watched with interest. Then, artist Ahmet Şafak took the stage and sang meaningful pieces.
'HE WALKED TO MARTYRATION WITHOUT BLINKING HIS EYES'
Muğla Governor Dr. İdris Akbıyık said, "The treacherous FETO terrorist organization that infiltrated our state on the night of July 15, while advancing on our nation with its tanks and planes, found the spirit of Çanakkale, Malazgirt and Dumlupınar in front of it. That night, millions of people poured into the squares with the call of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and they became an impenetrable fortress with only the star and crescent flags in their hands. The breasts standing in front of the barrels that night, the traitors' account "We know very well that the will is ours, the victory is ours. Our sons, brothers Nedip Cengiz Eker and Mehmet Çetin, who drank the sherbet of martyrdom in Marmaris, walked towards martyrdom without blinking. The epic written with the courage of them and our 253 martyrs all over the country is a sacred trust left to us." he said.
'THEY HAVE NOT LEARNED ANY LESSONS FROM THE STRUGGLES OF OUR ANCESTORS'
Nihat Eker, father of the martyred police officer Nedip Cengiz Eker in Marmaris, stated the meaning and importance of the day in his speech: "My son was also working in the police force in Marmaris on the night of that treacherous coup attempt. He was on duty with his friends in his own institution from the first moment to protect our President. He fulfilled his duty with great sacrifice until the last moment. This country was not a country that would be destroyed. Apparently, they had not learned any lessons from our history and the struggles of our ancestors. A handful of traitors did this." "They thought they could bring the nation to its knees, but they could not calculate that such a great betrayal of this country and this nation could never succeed."
Muğla Governor İdris Akbıyık, Marmaris District Governor Nurullah Kaya, Aksaz Naval Base Commander Rear Admiral Hamdi Abanoz, Southern Sea Area Commander Vice Admiral Rafet Oktar, Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Brigadier General Adem Şen, Muğla Forest Regional Director Mustafa Ülkdür, Provincial Police Chief Süleyman Karadeniz, MSKÜ Rector Prof. Dr. Turhan Kaçar, AK Party Muğla Provincial Chairman Cengizhan Güngör, MHP Muğla Provincial Chairman Emrah Otlu, Marmaris AK Party District Chairman Muzaffer Aravi and many citizens attended.
The commemoration program ended at 00.13 with the reading of sela from all mosques in Marmaris.