Hafza Girdap is the Executive Director and Spokesperson of Advocates of Silenced Turkey (AST), organizing and participating in parallel panel sessions with the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). She is the Co-Founder of Set Them Free, a Volunteer Member of Amnesty International, and an international speaker who has addressed the UNGA, UNCSW, and World Affairs Council Peace Conference on the ongoing human rights violations occurring in Turkey.
This interview was first conducted in 2022 and the original conversation was edited for clarity. Veris Media Group LLC has acquired the rights to this story and subsequent updates, and has received authorization for its publication.
In 2016, an attempted coup d’état by Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) occurred between July 15, 2016 and July 16, 2016. The events unfolded when a faction of the TSK, identifying as the Peace at Home Council, cited a disintegration of secularism, violations of democratic institutions, human rights abuses, and Turkey’s loss of credibility on the international stage as reasons for the coup d’état. In addition, there were rising concerns amongst Turkish citizens that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was instituting an authoritarian regime, a clear violation of Kemalist ideology. According to reports from the BBC, prior to the events of 2016, President Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) integrated political Islamism into public life, asserted control over the media, and renounced free speech.
The coup d’état, despite international support from Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, ultimately failed to seize control of any targets. The remaining Turkish Armed Forces and civilians loyal to President Erdogan were able to overwhelm the Peace at Home Council. In the early morning hours of July 16, 2016, following chaotic bloodshed and widespread destruction, the remaining forces surrendered, and government security forces regained control of political and military installations. The exact number of casualties and losses remains largely unconfirmed, but according to Al Jazeera, there were at least 251 people killed and over 2,200 people injured during the short-lived coup d’état.