Thousands worldwide protest attempted coup in Turkey

ISTANBUL

In cities across the world – in Europe, America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia – thousands of people took to the streets this weekend to protest Friday’s failed coup in Turkey and support its democratically elected government.

In addition to massive protests in Paris’ Place de la Republique and the Turkish Consulate in Bordeaux, southwestern France, and in Brussels, the seat of the European Union, people gathered in cities across Germany, including Berlin, to protest the attempt to overthrow Turkey’s government.

Protesters at the Turkish Embassy in Berlin chanted slogans against Fetullah Gulen, leader of the FETO/PDY terrorist group, which has been blamed for the coup.

Turks also protested in Cologne, Germany, joined by Syrians and people from other Muslim nations to show their support for the legal government in Turkey.

Nearly 500 Turks in Greece’s western Thrace region met in Alexandroupoli, where a helicopter used by eight coup plotters landed to request political asylum after the putsch was defeated.

The people carried signs saying, “No to coups, yes to democracy” and “Giving political asylum to coup supporters means supporting coups.”

Around 6,000 people in Austria marched at Christian Broda Platz in Vienna to condemn the failed coup.

In Italy, over 200 Turks gathered at the Turkish Consulate in Milan to protest the failed coup and support Turkey’s support democratically elected government.

In Zurich, Switzerland, around 500 citizens of Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Albania, together with Turks, met to protest the attempted coup.

Asli Oral, Turkish consul to Zurich, and Murat Sahin, head of the Union of European Turkish Democrats’ (UETD) Swiss branch, joined the protest together with other NGO representatives.

The UETD also organized protests in Sweden’s capital Stockholm in front of the Turkish Embassy. Citizens of Somalia and Uzbekistan also supported Turks during the rally.

Prayers for martyrs

In Kosovo, people gathered in the historic city of Prizren to show their support for the democratically elected government in Turkey.

Muslims in Kosovo also prayed in mosques across the country for martyred Turks who lost their lives resisting military vehicles and personnel.

Despite heavy rain, Turks in Hungary demonstrated against the would-be coup in the capital Budapest with NGO representatives, then stood in silent homage and sang the Turkish national anthem, and prayed for the martyrs.

Moreover, mosques linked to the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs and the Islamic Community of Milli Gorus all across Europe said prayers for Turks martyred during the illegal power grab.

In Asia, in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, a mixed group of Turks and Azeris gathered in Azadliq Square to protest the deadly coup attempt in Turkey.

Across the Atlantic, Turks in the U.S. on Saturday gathered in the state of Pennsylvania to protest the accused leader of the coup attempt, Fetullah Gulen, an expatriate cleric living in self-imposed exile in America.

Approximately 100 Turkish nationals from neighboring states converged outside Gulen's residence in the rural area of Saylorsburg.

Some came from as far away as Washington, D.C. to demand Gulen’s extradition to Turkey, where he is wanted for charges related to multiple attempts to forcibly remove the elected Turkish government.

'Turkey stood by us'

In the Middle East, hundreds of people also took to the streets in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon to celebrate the failure of the coup attempt by a renegade faction of Turkey’s military.

Waving Turkish and Palestinian flags, hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Khan Younis on Saturday to voice support for Turkey’s elected government.

Some carried banners reading, "Gaza won’t forget those who stood by it" – a reference to the Turkish government’s longstanding support for the people of Gaza, who have suffered under a decade-long embargo imposed by Israel and Egypt.

Dozens of Turks and Jordanians denouncing the military coup attempt gathered in front of the Turkish Embassy in Amman, Jordan.

Carrying signs reading, “Do not worry, God is with you” and “We are with you,” the Jordanians also distributed sweets to celebrate the Turkish nation’s victory against the coup.

In Lebanon, meanwhile, hundreds of people rallied in the southern city of Sidon to celebrate the failure of the coup in Turkey.

Waving Turkish flags, demonstrators gathered outside the city’s Turkish hospital amid chants in support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government.

'On your side'

Dozens of Lebanese also staged a sit-in in the northern city of Tripoli in a show of support for Turkey’s elected government.

In Syria, people in the opposition-held city of Idlip marched to support the democratically elected Turkish government and President Erdogan.

Waving Turkish flags, people shouted slogans such as “Turkey is the glory of my honor” and “Erdogan, Syria is on your side” to show their support.

In Africa, government officials, deputies, and clerics in Somalia also joined the protest in the capital, Mogadishu, against the would-be coup in Turkey, shouting, “Yes for legitimacy, no to the coup.”

In South Africa, a crowd of some 100 Turkish nationals gathered at Turkey’s Embassy in Pretoria to condemn the attempted coup.