A Show Ana Haber segment broadcast on January 16, 2018, covered the political debate over the phrase “July 20 coup,” a term used by government critics to describe the state of emergency declared after Turkey’s July 15, 2016 coup attempt.
Ankara blames the attempt on the Gülen movement, a transnational civic initiative inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, and designates the movement as a terrorist organization. The movement denies involvement.
The statement “We are right to call it the July 20 coup” reflects the opposition argument that the political order created after the failed coup transformed Turkey more deeply than the events of July 15 alone.
Critics say emergency decrees were used not only to prosecute alleged coup participants but also to reshape the judiciary, purge public institutions, silence dissent and consolidate executive power. For them, July 20 represents the moment when the government converted the failed coup into a broad political mandate.
The video below presents the news segment on the debate over the phrase “July 20 coup.”
