Erdoğan likens 2016 coup to closure of Ottoman Parliament by occupiers in 1920

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has likened last year's bloody coup attempt to the forced closure of the Ottoman Parliament (Meclis-i Mebusan) by occupying forces in the aftermath of World War I. 

"The closure of the Ottoman Parliament and the bombing of the Parliament by [the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization] FETÖ are the same things. The aim is the same. There is no difference there. Both of them aimed to prepare the way for the occupation of the country by dismantling these institutions, which are representatives of the national will," Erdoğan said Feb. 1.

The Gülenist organization has been accused of perpetrating the attempted coup of July 15.

Erdoğan denounced the group, saying it had lost its link with the true meaning of Islam, which teaches people to think rather than obey without thinking.                 

"Like many heretical structures, FETÖ members have also lost their way. Forgetting who they are, some of them were just transformed into unconscious servants that would do whatever their owners ordered. So much so that we can compare the magnitude of the treachery of the members of these organizations on July 15 only with the days of occupation a century ago," Erdoğan said.

"Academics, members of the judiciary, police, soldiers, teachers and businessmen in this organization may have graduated from well-known schools, but that does not remove their blindness and ignorance about the realities and does not remove the fact that they rented their hearts and minds to a charlatan," he added.