On July 15th 2016, two hundred and fifty-nine people, mostly civilians, were killed and over 2,500 were wounded after a rogue military faction tried to overthrow President Erdogan. 

The attempt to topple President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government was blamed by Ankara on US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, a former ally turned foe of Erdogan. Gulen denies the claims. 

The attempt was thwarted by military troops loyal to the government. 

In Istanbul, the bridge across the Bosphorus in Istanbul which was the scene of bloody fighting between Erdogan’s supporters and renegade soldiers is now renamed the July 15 Martyrs’ Bridge and the square in Ankara where thousands gathered nightly for a month after the coup attempt has been renamed July 15 Kizilay National Will Square. 

In 2017, President Erdogan first declared July 15th as a public holiday to commemorate the failed coup.