As part of its July 15 event series, TRT World Research Centre held a joint event with QAFSAM in Baku, Azerbaijan. Analysis and observations were made about the night of July 15 as well as Turkey’s changing political environment.
TRT World Research Centre held a panel at International Press Centre, Baku in light of the one-year anniversary of the failed coup attempt. The event was jointly organized with QAFSAM. Necdet Ünüvar, President of Turkish-Azerbaijan Interparliamentary Group, Ayşe Keşir, Member of the Parliament and Fatih Er, TRT World News Director were among the speakers.
TRT World Research Centre held a panel at the International Press Centre, Baku, in light of the one-year anniversary of the failed coup attempt. The event was jointly organized with QAFSAM. Necdet Ünüvar, President of Turkish-Azerbaijan Inter-Parliamentary Group, Ayşe Keşir, Member of the Parliament and Fatih Er, TRT World News Director were among the speakers.
The discussion around the July 15 coup attempt was attended by prominent politicians and intellectuals. Analysis and observations were made about the night of July 15 as well as Turkey’s changing political environment. Ayşe Keşir, Member of the Parliament claimed that it was indeed an attempt to create a civil war rather than just a coup attempt. She was at the National Assembly when the bombings took place and resisted the coup until the morning. Keşir made the first video call using FaceTime from the National Assembly that night. She recalls telling her kids that she would never forgive herself if she didn’t take to the streets to defend democracy.
Necdet Ünüvar, President of the Turkish-Azerbaijan InterParliamentary Group underlined the people’s bravery. He mentioned that the president rejected the idea of landing on Greek soil, which was recommended as a safer place that night but insisted on reaching out to Turkish people, taking to the streets as the nation did. Ünüvar claimed this was not something the putschists would have imagined. “Plotters miscalculated the heroes of that night, they were not mythical but real heroes made of flesh and bone” he said.
Particular attention was given to TRT World’s experience, an obvious target for the plotters. The soldiers broke into TRT World’s Ulus premises in order to silence Turkey’s voice in international arena, by trying to prevent English broadcasting. . Fatih Er, TRT World News Director recalled the night of July 15th when he was in Washington DC with a group of colleagues for the preparations of a permanent bureau and a broadcasting centre. When they received a call from Turkey and were informed about the coup attempt, they immediately instructed London staff to go on air although London too was going through the early establishment phase. Staff had to outsource the technical equipment but still TRT World made it to the screens. Er said, his colleagues also contributed to many TV shows in the United States keeping the world up to date and clearing the air from inconsistent and unconfirmed rumours.
