Coup bid ‘martyrs’ become new heroes of Erdogan’s Turkey

Çukurkuyu, Turkey | AFP | People have come from far and wide to this sleepy Anatolian village in central Turkey to recite prayers, take selfies or just think quietly.

The purpose of their visit is simple — to pay their respects at the grave of Sergeant Omer Halisdemir, probably the most celebrated victim of the July 15 coup aimed at ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The 249 people who died at the hands of the coup plotters are remembered in Turkey as “sehitler” — martyrs for Islam — and the subject of intense veneration on the first anniversary of the failed putsch.

But none has received the attention of Halisdemir, who became an immediate national hero by shooting two bullets into the head of General Semih Terzi on the night of July 15.

Terzi is suspected of being one of the key plotters who was leading the assault on the headquarters of special forces in Ankara.

Anti-coup special forces commander Zekai Aksakalli had ordered Halisdemir by telephone to shoot dead Terzi to break the chain of command. The sergeant replied simply “Yes Sir!”.

After carrying out his commander’s instructions to the letter, Halisdemir was himself immediately shot dead by Terzi’s entourage.

The ultimate sacrifice made by Halisdemir, married with two children, was hailed by Turkish leaders as the turning point of the night and turned his home village of Cukurkuyu in central Anatolia into a place of pilgrimage.

– ‘One of the greatest heroes’ –

Tens of thousands of people have already made the journey to the cemetery in Cukurkuyu to visit the grave of Halisdemir, located at the end of an alley lined with pine trees and flanked by a gigantic Turkish flag.

“One of the greatest heroes of the night of the putsch is buried there,” said Aydin, 23, a student who had come to Halisdemir’s grave with his family from Ankara.

“When he fell as a martyr, Omer Halisdemir became the brother of 80 million Turks,” he added.

In the province of Nigde, where Cukurkuyu is located, Halisdemir’s image is omnipresent — stuck to the windows of lorries, on the local university that is now named after him, on scarves sold in the street.

A statue of him now occupies pride of place in central Nigde.