Turkey slammed the United States and some European countries for not allowing events to commemorate the anniversary of the July 15 coup attempt, accusing them of practicing double standards when it comes to human rights in Turkey contrasted with their respective countries.
“On the one hand, you will call yourself ‘country of freedoms’, you will constantly criticize Turkey over human rights and freedoms and, on the other hand, you will ban activities aiming at creating awareness in the international community on the coup attempt that threatened the future of a country,” Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said in a meeting with media representatives on July 14.
Turkey will mark the first anniversary of the coup attempt on July 15 through massive events to be organized in 81 provinces.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will attend programs in Ankara and Istanbul while the Parliament will get convened at a special session.
Turkey did also aim to spread events to abroad but Netherlands, Germany and Austria banned Turkish leaders from meeting the Turkish community to mark the anniversary.
In the US, Washington DC metropolitan area subway management did not permit posters condemning the coup attempt to be hung.