October 26, 2017•Update: October 26, 2017
By Kadir Yildiz
KOCAELI, Turkey
Turkey on Thursday brought together politicians, academics and media representatives from over 30 countries in a three-day international summit on coups.
The Kartepe summit titled International Symposium on July 15 and Coups D'etat - Global Impacts, Media and Democracy is hosted by Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality.
Addressing the attendees on the first day of the summit, Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Numan Kurtulmus said the summit is “Turkey’s Davos”, referring to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting on global politics, economics, and social issues.
"I hope it will go beyond Davos and will become a meeting point [of the world] in Turkey," Kurtulmus said.
Recalling the July 15 defeated coup last year, the minister said: "We are one of the nations in the world which fought best for democracy."
Last year, the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.
Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.
"Now, we have two main duties," Kurtulmus said, explaining that the first duty was to bring all the perpetrators of the coup attempt to account.
"Secondly, [it is our duty] to ensure that democracy in Turkey is strong enough to be away from individuals and parties," he added.
Kurtulmus called on all universities, research centers, political parties, and non-governmental organizations to make every effort to establish a democratic culture in the country.
The symposium is organized in partnership with TRT, Kocaeli University, Istanbul University, Sakarya University, Yıldırım Beyazit University, International Sarajevo University, as well as Prime Ministry Coordinating Office of Public
Diplomacy and Turkish-Arab Institute for Strategic Studies.
Anadolu Agency is the Global Communication partner of the summit.
The international summit takes place in Kartepe district every September or October to discuss the social and political issues concerning Turkey and the world.
