Veterans of July 15 take pride in their choice to join the fight against putschists. Although some would prefer to erase the tragic memories of that fateful day eight years ago, all of them are as resilient as ever and vow to take to the streets if it happens again.

On Monday, Türkiye will mark Democracy and National Unity Day declared after the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) utilized its infiltrators in the army to seize power on July 15, 2016.

An unprecedented mobilization of the public, thanks to the call of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and a profound sense of loyalty to democracy dashed the hopes of putschists. Türkiye lost 252 people and many more were injured but nationwide efforts by unarmed civilians and brave police and military officers ultimately stopped the most recent attempt in the country shaken by many coups in its brief history.

"I remember asking whether they won when I woke up," Turgut Aslan said. Aslan miraculously survived a bullet to the head fired by putschists and recovered from a monthslong coma and five surgeries. The former director of the Turkish counterterrorism police was among the patriotic citizens looking to stop powerful the putschists outnumbering them.

Even before President Erdoğan made his historic call to the nation to "take to the streets" against putschists, people carrying Turkish flags poured into the streets to confront putschists. As news spread, some headed to airports taken over by putschists, while others rushed to the Presidential Complex, which was the target of airstrikes. They were determined to protect the homeland they deemed sacred from a junta that was no different than its predecessors in its bid to derail democracy.

Since the first one in 1960, Türkiye has witnessed several coups by an army viewing itself as above the national will. This time, coup plotters were confounded to see civilians openly opposing them. Still, their brutality matched those behind earlier coups who executed their opponents. Indiscriminate firing on crowds and simply calling them to lay down arms cost dozens of lives but in the early hours of July 16, 2016, the order was largely restored and putschists had lost this time.

The day is a mix of celebration and commemoration. On Monday, events will be held in 81 provinces on the occasion while high-ranking officials will attend main ceremonies at the Presidential Complex and Parliament. President Erdoğan will host daylong activities at the Presidential Complex under the theme of "Victory of the Nation" and will address guests. He is also expected to attend another event at Parliament, which was also subject to airstrikes by putschists.

At 12:13 a.m. on July 16, muezzins will recite sala, a call to prayer, in thousands of mosques across the country, just like they did in 2016. Sala, originally a prayer call in Islam for funeral prayers, is also recited in times of national tragedies and for mobilization of the public. Mosques will also host mass recitations of the Quran in memory of martyrs of the coup attempt.

For democracy, homeland

Aslan is proud of the Turkish nation for standing up for democracy and not giving room to putschists. As he recalled the night of July 15, 2016, Aslan, who now serves as a presidential adviser, says he was already the target of FETÖ as he had prepared a report on the terrorist group upon instruction of Erdoğan while the latter was prime minister. The report led to operations against FETÖ and Aslan found himself first courted by FETÖ, then threatened. "(FETÖ leader) Fetullah Gülen sent me a message to join them. I told them I’d never side with them. One day, I found my car covered with bullet holes," he says.

When he heard of heightened military activity around the Gendarmerie General Command in the capital Ankara, Aslan sought to find out what was happening on July 15. Accompanied by his guard Hasan Gülhan, he tried to enter the command building, only to be "detained" by putschists.

"I tried to talk to a commander of the putschists, tried to talk him out of joining others (for the coup). They ignored me. They then fired a shot at Hasan’s head, and he died there. I later asked them to take me to the restroom. They told me I would rest forever and then fired at my head too. I later found out that they left me for dead after the shooting. People found me (when putschists were captured) and took me to the hospital. Doctors told me they operated five times on my brain. I woke up only five months later," he recalled in an interview with Ihlas News Agency (IHA) ahead of the anniversary of the coup attempt.

Like Aslan, Sabahattin Çelik was shot in the head by putschists and now has prosthetics in his skull. Still under treatment, Çelik is expected to undergo more surgeries, in addition to the 27 others he has already undergone. Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Çelik said he never regretted taking to the street on July 15 despite what he went through.

The 44-year-old joined his friends in Istanbul to resist the putschists when they noticed tanks crossing Haliç Bridge in Istanbul. When they found out a coup attempt was unfolding, they headed to Saraçhane where the city hall, one of the putschists’ targets, was located. "We tried to convince them to leave, to go home but they told us that a coup was happening and we should go home," he recounted. When they refused, soldiers started firing on the crowd. A putschist sniper injured Çelik, who woke up from a coma 27 days later. Prior to that, he witnessed how putschists fired at people’s legs first and then started firing randomly. He and others carried the injured and corpses of victims to safe areas before they themselves were shot at.

For six months, he was bedridden and for another year, he was wheelchair-bound. His shattered skull was replaced with pieces of an artificial skull. "Things changed a lot. I am not as healthy as I was before. I saw young people dying. I saw children losing fathers, women losing their husbands. I share their pain," he says.

Çelik laments that people see them as members of a political party, namely the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which was the primary target of the putschists. "No, we were on the streets that night for peace of our country," he insists.

"People will be there again if democracy is threatened. This is what Türkiye showed to the world. I don’t have an iota of regret (for standing against the putschists). I was there so that our country would not be held captive, to set an example for future generations," he says.

He is also disappointed in how some people view it as a "staged coup" to empower the government against FETÖ. "Well, if it was staged, I did not see any of those (critics) on this stage. That night, we had nothing but Turkish flags in our hands. We had nothing to physically defend our homeland but we had faith in our hearts. We had courage instilled by Allah. July 15 would not be a victory without courage and faith, without that spirit of Çanakkale," he said, referring to the legendary resistance of the Turkish nation against invading forces during a World War I campaign.

"You cannot plot a coup again in this country. We have a nation ready to give its life to stop it," he said.

"I stood up for my family, my country, my nation, my state. I will happily do it again, and I am ready to give my life this time. Because we have no other country than Türkiye," Yusuf Ak said, echoing Baki’s statements. The 41-year-old father of four was hit three times, once in the head and twice in the legs in Istanbul by putschists. He was among those confronting putschists on the Bosporus Bridge (now known as Martyrs’ Bridge). At first, he was thought dead and a flag was draped over his seemingly lifeless body on the bridge before his cousin searching for him discovered that he was still alive and escorted him to a hospital. Indeed, Ak was clinging to life and it took about two years for him to fully recover from the wounds inflicted by the shrapnel he still carries in his head.

"The faith within us brought victory. They only had fear," he told AA, referring to putschist soldiers firing at them. "They were confounded, they did not know what to do. They were firing at people, but people kept walking," he recounted.