Türkiye will continue its fight against the FETO terrorist organization under the rule of law until the threat is fully eliminated, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Wednesday.
"Terrorist groups have reached a dead end; there is nowhere to go through hostility toward Türkiye," the president said during his address on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the July 15 coup attempt by the FETO terrorist organization in the country.
Mentioning the night the coup attempt happened, Erdogan said: "That night, we saw the spirit that rose to its feet during the War of Independence come alive and spring into action once again. That night, we once again witnessed what a great nation our noble and cherished people are."
Ankara to keep supporting ‘oppressed people’
Ankara will continue supporting "oppressed and suffering people from Gaza to Lebanon, Somalia to Syria, and from Rakhine to Sudan," Erdogan added.
“Just as it was 10 years ago, the eyes of the world are on us today. The world is watching us. It is watching the Turkish nation; it is watching you. Beirut, Damascus, Aleppo, Tripoli, Tripoli in Lebanon and Sarajevo are following us today. The innocent children of Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem are watching us.
"From the Middle East to the Balkans, from the Caucasus to Africa, the oppressed and the victimized are looking to Türkiye with great hope. We will not surrender the field to those who activate every kind of dirty scheme to extinguish that hope," he added.
Wishing that the souls of all martyrs, who are the "eternal seals of the homeland’s existence," may rest in peace, Erdogan expressed his gratitude to the members of the Turkish Armed Forces and security forces for remaining “loyal to the honorable uniforms entrusted to them by the nation in the face of terrorists who betrayed their uniforms.”
He also thanked every member of "my cherished nation who took to the streets with flags in their hands, prayers on their lips, and love for Türkiye in their hearts, leaving no room in the squares for the coup plotters."
‘Betrayal is a sinister virus’
“Please do not forget this: betrayal is a sinister virus that spreads through the body it infects, reaching every cell. In the name of morality and humanity, this virus recognizes no limits. It instantly wipes away everything associated with morality, conscience, honor, dignity and courage," he said.
President Erdogan said that when one looks at those who have betrayed the nation and the state throughout history, what emerges is a herd of soulless and dishonorable mankurts.
“You will find no sense of shame in them. You will not find even the slightest trace of it. There is no sign in them of loyalty to the homeland or awareness of nationhood. In their eyes, national and spiritual values have no worth whatsoever.
"They are the sworn enemies of the nation and the country. They are corrupt characters who stab their state and nation in the back for worldly gain," he added.
"Those who heroically resisted the coup, those who applauded the coup plotters and those who tried to exonerate them will likewise never be forgotten," Erdogan said.
"I want every one of my citizens to understand this truth very clearly: although FETO has lost its composure, its hope has been exhausted and its motivation has declined following the death of the terrorist organization’s leader, we can never afford to become complacent in the fight against this insidious network," he added.
"Without falling into the traps that FETO seeks to draw us into, we will proceed carefully, cautiously and meticulously against the organization, particularly its covert elements," he added.
President Erdogan underlined that the police, the judiciary and the intelligence services were carrying out their duties with the precision of a surgeon, and that utmost care was being taken to distinguish between the guilty and the innocent.
Stating that efforts were continuing to reduce the organization’s area of exploitation abroad, Erdogan said that the Turkish Maarif Foundation had been providing highly successful services through 543 educational institutions in 66 countries around the world.
Erdogan said that they had not allowed the organization to regain a foothold in society through structures that appeared legitimate within the country, adding that they were closely monitoring FETO's efforts to re-establish itself in the bureaucracy, in politics and especially in commercial activities.
‘We will continue this fight’
He also underscored that intensive efforts were being made to secure the extradition of fugitive members of the organization from abroad.
“We will continue this fight until we eradicate this espionage network, whose defining characteristic is that it eats away at the body from within like a cancer cell.
"On the other hand, our state is already taking the necessary action within the law regarding those who abandon their hatred toward Türkiye, those who try to escape the deviance into which they have fallen and those who genuinely regret the crimes they have committed.
"But whoever becomes involved in illegal activity, whoever persists in hostility toward this nation and whoever attempts to plunge a dagger into the heart of Türkiye will, I say this very clearly, be held accountable before justice," he vowed.
The defeated coup attempt, in which 253 people were killed and 2,734 were wounded, was plotted and carried out by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).
