July 19, 2016•Update: July 19, 2016
ANKARA
The opposition People’s Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey has condemned Friday’s failed coup attempt.
Chairing the HDP group meeting at the parliament in Ankara on Tuesday, co-chairman Figen Yuksekdag said her party has "never agreed with the pro-coup mindset" nor with what she called a "climate that formed the coup".
"We have never agreed and will not agree with the pro-coup mindset that bombs the parliament and ignores the people's will," Yuksekdag said.
"But we will also not agree with [the] 'climate and ground' that created, generated, enlarged, and formed this coup," she added.
The Turkish parliament in Ankara was bombed during Friday’s failed deadly coup attempt, which sought to overthrow the country’s democratically elected government.
"I condemn and curse once again this attack against the parliament," Yuksekdag said.
"The people of Turkey, we, do not deserve to be ruled by the coup or antidemocratic regimes," she said, adding that the way forward is to develop policies that will never allow a coup to take place again.
"We have to form and organize a political awareness and societal standing that will never give passage to a coup regime and not let to coup plotters reach their goal," Yuksekdag said.
The 45-year-old co-leader of HDP said she hoped Friday's coup attempt was "the last bitter experience of the people of Turkey".
At least 240 people, including members of the security forces and civilians, were martyred in Istanbul and Ankara and nearly 1,500 others wounded as they protested against the coup.
The government has said the attempted coup was organized by followers of U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen, who is accused of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through supporters within Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming the parallel state.
