A drone show was held over the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul on Wednesday to mark the tenth anniversary of the July 15 coup attempt, while crowds gathered for a commemoration in Ankara.
The drone show displayed images of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, a man standing against a tank and other images next to the bridge, which was dubbed the July 15 Martyrs' Bridge after fighting between putschists and civilians took place there.
Rogue soldiers commandeered warplanes, tanks and helicopters during the coup attempt, in which some 250 people were killed in the bid to seize power. The Turkish government accused the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen's organisation of plotting the coup, which was followed by a widespread crackdown, in which at least 77,000 people were arrested and 150,000 state workers including teachers, judges and soldiers suspended under emergency rule.
Gulen, who had lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999 and died in October 2024, denied involvement in the putsch but his movement was designated as a terrorist group by Turkey.
Addressing a crowd of hundreds of people in Ankara, Erdogan said the fight against the network, dubbed FETÖ by the Turkish government, would not cease despite what he said was lower morale in the group after Gulen's death.
