On 1997 coup anniversary, Erdogan warns of attempts to replicate it

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his party will not allow conspirators and liars to reach their goals.

In his speech before supporters in Balıkesir city Friday, Erdogan said that the upcoming municipal elections scheduled for March 30 will be a lesson for all “traitors” inside Turkey.

Friday marked the anniversary of what Erdogan called “a black day in the history of Turkey”, namely the military coup of February 28, 1997. Erdogan recalled the repression that followed the coup, such as that suffered by conservative Muslim women who were banned from university education because of their choice to wear the Muslim headscarf. He added that the post-coup government tried to reinforce the image of poor citizens as perpetually poor, and that veiled Muslim women would always be confined to inferior jobs.

“Your votes in the upcoming elections will disappoint Turkey’s enemies abroad,” he told the crowd.

Erdogan made reference to Fethullah Gulen, the US based leader of the Gulen Movement, calling him the “leader of the parallel entity”. Erdogan accused Gulen of fabricating a recording, allegedly of a conversation between Erdogan and his son, aiming to insult the ruling party. “Unfortunately, the Republican People’s Party and the Nationalist Movement collaborate in supporting this treason,” he added.

“Those people [namely, the Gulen Movement] praised the February 28 coup and honored its architects. Now they are providing information to them by taping phone calls. We can see the same scenario repeating itself with the same source of financing and the same media outlets,” he said.

Supporters of Gulen, which Erdogan label the “parallel entity”, eavesdropped on his phone calls and his son’s, as well as encrypted calls of senior officials in the government. “Who gave them the right to eavesdrop on phone calls of the prime minister?” Erdogan asked.

“This entity has committed grave treason against the country and disclosed its most important strategic secrets. I call on my misled brothers to be aware of the reality of this entity.”

“The parallel entity constitutes the last obstacle facing Turkey…On the 30th of March, you will make a choice between the old and the modern Turkey,” Erdogan concluded.