The students who experienced the deadly July 15 coup attempt are set to hold a panel in Washington on Wednesday to share their firsthand experience of the public resistance on the night of the coup.
Rushain Abbasi, a PhD candidate at Harvard University, Hümeyra Selçukbiricik, an undergraduate student from Georgetown University, Safia Latif, a PhD candidate at Boston University, Ömer Faruk Koç, an undergraduate student at Boğaziçi University will be talking about how the coup night unfolded as they witnessed the turn of events at the most critical points that had been invaded by coup units in Istanbul and Ankara.
On July 15, a small military junta-linked to FETÖ attempted to topple the democratically elected president and government in Turkey and impose martial law. The attempt was prevented by military troops loyal to the government, along with police units and millions of Turkish citizens in favor of democracy.
In total 241 people, consisting of mostly civilians, were killed by pro-coup soldiers, while over 2,000 people were injured.
The attempt was masterminded by Fetullah Gülen, who has been living in self-imposed exile on a 400-acre property in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania since 1999.