Turkey marks one year since attempted coup

One year after an attempted coup in Turkey, the country’s opposition is still struggling to unite. On Saturday, the now-autocratic legacy of the coup will be commemorated in government and opposition remembrance events.

Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) recently completed a “justice march” from Ankara to Istanbul to protest Erdogan’s use of state power to silence both coup plotters and others, including academics and journalists. The march culminated in a rally last Sunday; further actions are expected this weekend pushing oft-termed “Kemal Gandhi”’s ten demands for liberalisation.

Today’s “Martyr Remembrance Day” will mark the loss of civilians, 249 of whom died defending the elected AKP government. Erdogan will seal the celebration by addressing parliament early Sunday morning, exactly a year since the coup began. As he has done for the past 12 months, the president will use today’s events to tie the coup to terrorist actions and delegitimise the country’s opposition, consolidating his grip on power.