Turkey’s night of fire, and its ongoing fight for democracy

YemenExtra

When Tolga Ecebalin started marching towards the municipal headquarters in Istanbul along with his cousin and hundreds of others on that summer night of 15 July last year, he was prepared to die to preserve rights some rogue generals were trying to seize with brutal force.

The world watched in awe and admiration that night, as the people of Turkey fought for their country’s democracy in the face of fighter jets, tanks and gunfire. Tolga didn’t survive the night.

Tolga, 27, was a sales rep who came from a very religious Roma family in the working-class neighbourhood of Fatih. On that night he responded to his father’s call, leaving his five-year-old son and three-year-old daughter in the care of their mother.

“I would take Tolga, my grandchildren, my entire family and do it again without the slightest hesitation even if this time it meant we would all die,” Tarkan, Tolga’s father, told Middle East Eye.

For nearly 12 hours on that fateful night, civilians battled the odds, and in the end their bravery defeated the putschists who had attempted a coup.

During those hours no one knew who the perpetrators and planners of the coup attempt were, and no one cared. People of all convictions and beliefs were united in their determination to not let democracy fall.

Most of those on the streets – of diverse political beliefs and views – were only there to defend their country and its improving democracy.

In the end, 249 people died. About 3,000 were wounded.

Tarkan, Tolga father poses next to framed photo at Tolga cafe (MEE/Suraj Sarma)

For Tolga, the fear that night was that hardcore secularist generals would target members of their faith if they succeeded.

Ercument, Tolga’s cousin who was with him on that night, told MEE: “We took to the streets for Allah and Islam. If the coup had succeeded they would have rounded up all bearded men and headscarf-wearing women the next day. It would become hell for Muslims. We went out that night to become martyrs.”

Yet for others, it was not religion but the nation that brought them out on the street.

Batuhan Ergin, 20, was shot in the heart on the Bosphorus Bridge, now renamed the 15 July Martyrs’ Bridge, as he walked towards the putschists.

“He went to defend his country and his flag,” Ahmet, Batuhan’s father told MEE.

Batuhan lived with his family in the city’s middle-class Ortakoy district from where they could see the bridge. That night he had gone to a cafe with a friend further north along the Bosphorus coast when part of the bridge was occupied and sealed off by soldiers.

“We spoke around 20 minutes before he was shot. I said come home, but he said he would never be able to rest easy if he ignored a situation when his country was in peril,” said Ahmet.