Turkey to mark July 15 as Democracy fest day: PM Binali Yildirim

ANKARA: Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Sunday said that July 15 will be marked as “democracy fest” day for Turkey as the attempted military coup was foiled with the cooperation and support of the Turkish people.

The Turkish Parliament would discuss a number of new measures to prevent future attempts at a military coup in Turkey as legal procedures were launched to heavily punish the plotters, the Hurriyet daily news reported Yildirim as saying at a press conference.

Yildirim was accompanied at the press conference in his office by Chief of General Staff General Hulusi Akar, who was rescued from the hands of coup plotters after hours of captivity.

A critical question raised to Yildirim was whether the government would consider re-installing capital punishment for those military personnel on charges of treason.

“As you know the death penalty had been removed from our legal system. We will discuss with other political party leaders on what further measures we should take to prevent such future attempts,” Yildirim said.

The coup attempt on July 15 was a black stain on Turkish democracy, but could be turned into the fest of democracy thanks to the Turkish people’s loyalty to democracy and its freedoms, the Hurriyet daily news reported Yildirim as saying.