July 15th – Democracy and National Unity Day – Message from the Rector of the University of Samsun: Understanding July 15th

The treacherous coup attempt on July 15th has clearly shown us how the so-called “act of goodness” – or the “Service Movement” in the words of its followers, which had vastly grown by exploiting religious values for over 40 years in Anatolia – turned into a brutal terrorist organization in due course. Since 2010, with the hostile attitude, it started to exhibit against those not related to itself and against the legitimate government elected by the public vote, this movement had started to depict clearly that it had a secret agenda and could do anything when the time was ripe, including a coup, for the benefit of not only its own interest but also one of its masters by whom it was led and directed. Although this was the case, until the treacherous coup attempt on July 15th, most of our people couldn’t see or didn’t want to realize the blatantly coming treason, with the mentality of “I perform my duty and don’t think about the rest” or “Let sleeping dogs lie”, in order not to see this reality. Unfortunately, this was made despite the open and loud call of our esteemed President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to first governmental agencies then to all segments of society, to actively struggle against the parallel state structure of the Gülen Movement after the jurisdiction and security coup of FETO militants, who were nested in the judiciary and the police forces on the dates of 17/25 December, against the government elected by the public vote. However, on July 15th, when the FETO militants and disciples assailed with bombs and bullets to their own nation, as their true colours were shown, we were, fortunately, able to see that the organism known as “Gülen Community” or “Service Movement” was a terrorist organisation and the leader Gülen was not the so-called preceptor but was a deviant and a terrorist who exploited religious values loutishly. Thank goodness for this anyhow, because there are still vacuous and unconscious servants in this country, who can’t, unfortunately, see this reality or who do not want to see it for their self-interest.

When we consider as a whole the events that started with the Undersecretary of MIT’s being summoned to interrogation on February 7th, 2012 by a prosecutor of FETO with the force of the FETO police pursuant to KCK operations; that continued with bureaucratic coup attempt with the so-called illegality investigations organized by the judges and police of FETO on December 17th/25th, 2013 and sought against the government elected by the free-will of the public and in a similar manner went on with the raid assaulted to MIT trucks in Adana on January 19th,2014 and the events that reached its peak with the bloody and treacherous coup attempt of July 15th, we can easily say that we, as the whole country, came back from the brink of a terrible disaster, an invasion attempt and even the verge of the cliff. As all these events were fed by religious discourses and values, and planned and tried to be implemented by the Gülen movement which had the appearance of a religious structure; it is obvious that the ones that were hurt most by this situation were İslam – the religion of mercy – and the Anatolian geography – the cradle of  “the culture of living together in diversity”, thus our glorious nation.

On the evening of July 15th, with the mission of dividing our country, the lead of the Muslim geography; tanks had come out of their barracks, traitors in the shape of wild beasts in the army had been let out to streets, bridges had been kept, assassins had been sent for our President, execution lists of thousands had been prepared, the Assembly of the Nation had been bombed, civilians had been crushed under the tanks and besieged with bullets, and a massacre had been started. However, with the effective and outstanding leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and with his call, hundreds of thousands of people flew to the streets in a few hours and banded together with the spirit of Çanakkale against the traitors; in this way, the treacherous coup attempt was quashed in a short time and our country turned from the edge of the abyss. The treacherous coup attempt tried on July 15th by the terrorist organization FETO against the Republic of Turkey, national unity and solidarity, future and fraternity of our country, was eliminated with a great example of valour of our country that showed to all the world that our mighty country – that has come through many troubles with the love of motherland and freedom throughout history – protected our state, homeland and, democracy and future at the cost of our people’s lives and will never give up these values. We will never forget our veterans and our 249 martyrs who sacrificed their lives for our country and our sacred values. As the University of Samsun, our duty is to keep alive the spirit of July 15th at all times, to raise conscious generations who are aware of this trust, endowed with national and spiritual values under the guidance of reason and science by protecting the trust of our martyrs and veterans, and in this way to contribute to the bright future of our country.

In memory of this glorious resistance, I congratulate with my heartfelt feelings the “Democracy and National Unity Day”, on which our awareness of being a nation is strengthened; commemorate our dear martyrs, who sacrificed their lives on July 15th for our country, independence, sacred values, national unity, and solidarity, with mercy and gratitude; and express my deepest respect and gratitude, on behalf of my university, to our brave veterans and the architects of this great epic.

 

Prof. Dr. Mahmut AYDIN

Rector of the University of Samsun

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