On the evening of July 15^th, a faction of the Turkish Armed Forces attempted to stage a coup in various cities of Turkey, particularly in Ankara and Istanbul.

It was understood in a short time that this was more than a treacherous plot: It was a terrorist campaign. The perpetrators shot at their own people, stabbed their commanders in the back and bombed the National Parliament and the Office of the Presidency.

We have solid proof that this coup attempt was staged by the Fethullah Gülen Terrorist Organization (FETÖ). Our government has been constantly exposing the real motives of this terrorist group and its leader, Fethullah Gülen, to all allies and partner and call them to take all possible measures to prevent the activities of this group in their soil. The foiled coup is the latest criminal act revealing the danger posed by FETÖ.

From the very beginning, the command chain and vast majority of the Turkish Armed Forces stood up against the coup attempt. It was merely some elements of the Air Forces, Gendarmerie and armored units who are constituents of FETÖ and joined the violent conspiracy.

Both the police and public prosecutors immediately took necessary measures to foil the attempt.

Above all, it was the Turkish nation who thwarted the plot. They displayed a historic solidarity as they took to the streets and remained defiant. The stood bravely in front of the tanks and reclaimed their democratic rights.

Unfortunately, 241 of our citizens (62 policemen, 5 soldiers and 174 civilians) were left dead and 1537 wounded.

The terrorists tried to broadcast their message by taking over studios of the state TV (TRT) and raiding private media outlets. Yet the plotters’ attempt to control the media did not last long. It must be noted that the Turkish media also played a key role in defeating the coup attempt.

Throughout the process, all the political parties and Members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and the people stood firmly by democracy, democratic politics, democratic institutions and the Constitution. A Joint Declaration in defense of democracy was issued during the extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly on the 16^thof July.

Our President, Prime Minister, Government and Members of Turkish Grand National Assembly and the Turkish people all together defeated this coup attempt and stood by democracy and rule of law.

The operation and investigations against the terrorist group, including the efforts towards eliminating it from the state apparatus, are still ongoing. As of July 21^th, 2016;

9194 coup plotters have been detained and 2591 were arrested afterwards,

24 coup plotters are identified as dead, while 50 were captured wounded,

High Council of Judges and Prosecutors canceled the membership of its 5 members and 2745 judges and prosecutors were laid off,

However; despite all our efforts and very transparent media reporting, we are extremely frustrated by certain distorted comments as well as by certain prejudiced and unacceptable criticisms.

Turkey is a democratic state of law.

The coup leaders attempted an aggressionand waged a terrorist campaign against the Republic of Turkey which is a democratic, secular and social state as well as its constitutional order.