The second of panel sessions of InternationalCongress of Democracy was held on the 3^rd of March 2017. The openingspeech of the panel was made by Faruk Çelik, the Minister of Food, Agricultureand Animal Breeding.The Minister Çelik, emphasizing the fact that July 15 wasthe lousiest night of our political history, said that“That night, perhaps for the first time in political history of theworld, with police forces loyal to nation’s will, political parties ofdifferent ideologies, non-governmental organizations, judicial agencies, media… all in all, in cooperation with all dynamics of the society, we were able tohave carried a dark night to a bright dawn.The grandness of tanks was burnedto the ground with the nobility and courage of the people, so to speak.”

 Faruk Çelik, telling that the media hassignificant role in democratic regimes and based on such reason, theperpetrators first tried to shut down the media as the first thing and went onas follows:

 “The coup plottersacted to leave the society blind, deaf and mute as happened back in 1960 and1980 by invading media organizations, especially TRT on the night of July 15.However,nothing was as it was used to be. Because, there is a communication device inevery home and every pocket. Thus, our honorable President was able to addressthe nation from a cell phone and call in the people to the streets. So, thecoup attempt organized and ganged up on “by-lock”had a serious blow through “facetime”.Suchevent re-confirmed the power of media.I extend our thanks and gratitude onbehalf of our nation to the members of all media that set up a “line of democracy” on that nightbetween our “Public” and our “President”.

 AN ATTEMPT TODISINTEGRATE TURKEY

 The Minister Çelik, reminding the fact thatcoup plotters assert to act “on behalfof the nation” in all coups, added that, “saving the democracy by means of anti-democratic means must be a peculiarmethod which is specific only to coup plotters”.Emphasizing that July 15 attempt is an attempt tosupplement the Treaty of Sevres and disintegrate Turkey, Çelik further statedthat “We well know the terroristorganizations and their treason.We have faced for the first time a network oftreason and treachery, trying to paralyze the overall system based on thearguments of such system.FETÖ having brainwashed the youngsters with aninvented religion rather than a divine one, raised a generation who pointsthegun delivered for the protection of nation to the nation itself.What a diresituation! We now face a very devious organization which regards the treason asworship, calls the “treason” as “service”, collects money from people throughthreat and blackmail and calls it “favor”, refers escape from law as “pilgrimage”and says no holds barred when attaining the target.If your path is not decent,then your end shall not be decent…So, here we see their end… However, we shouldnot rest on our laurels and be alert.”

 Reminding the fact that the West failed the test bigtime during the coup attempt of July 15, stated that, “When it comes to its interests, one can hardly restrain fromsaying“democracy” is a sort of the idol made of wafer for the West and theyeat it when they get hungry”.

 “MEDYA ACTED AS ACATALYST”

 Şenol Göka, the General Manager of TRT, statingthat Turkish media adopted an attitude in favor of democracy on July 15 and wasamong the “heroes” of thatnight,said that “The media proved thatit is not a “tool”, but a “resource”. And it served as a catalystfor the citizens to have embraced their country and democracy”. Şenol Göka,reminding that TRT was invaded by the coup plotters and the coup declarationwas read by force of arms, said that the importance of the private televisionchannels was better comprehended in such chaos.

 A GRAND ORGANIZATION BY ÖZ ORMAN-İŞ

 NTV anchorman Oğuz Haksever, one of thespeakers, emphasizing the fact that Öz Orman-İş made a great accomplishment byhaving organized the International Congress of Democracy entitled as “July 15Coup Attempt – A Global Game of Chess”, “Icongratulate Öz Orman-İş Trade Union for having accomplished such a grandorganization while this should have already been done by such worthwhile! tradeunions having almost 200 thousand members”.

 Oğuz Haksever briefly stated, reminding thatthe young generations working in the media have learned about the pains ofcoups further to the coup of 1980, that:

 “Media’s bold stanceagainst the coup on July 15 has a significant role for that.That night, themedia was exposed to national will.That night, our honorable President, RecepTayyip Erdoğan, former President Abdullah Gül and some politicians as well asgenerals eventually showed up in the screens. As a result, the society clinchedtogether to oppose the coup.”

 “IF WE ARE TO DIE,LET’S DIE TONIGHT”

 TGRT Ankara Representative, Batuhan Yaşarstarted his speech during the panel as“Iextend my congratulations to Öz Orman-İş Trade Union for having organized suchan extensive congress by elevating July 15 experience of Turkey to aninternational level”.

 Batuhan Yaşar, telling all about what happenedin the TGRT studios and news desk on the night of July 15, briefly said that:

 “I had a word withMücahit Ören, the Chairman of İhlas Holding at 21.45 at that night. He told methat “we will clearly and resolutelyoppose this coup”.Later, I said when on air “If we are to die, let’s die tonight”. When we were able to getthrough to our dear Prime Minister, we had already finished our program.Then,we were able to reach Mr. Hasan, the executive assistant of our honorablePresident and wanted to put our President on air through a teleconference.Mr. Hasantold us that we could have a video conference by means of facetime and we did so.10 minutes immediately after the call of ourhonorable President to our citizens, we witnessed tens of thousands of peopletook to the streets. The general Zekai Aksakallı’s, the Commander of SpecialForces, phone call put on air in our program who stated that he was notinvolved in the coup was the breaking point in the progress of the coup.However,most of all was the addressing of Mr. President on the screens.My friends askedme during the broadcasting: How many F-16s does Turkey have? I said 240aircraft. There are only 7 of them airborne. Let’s not fear, as the remaining233 were not involved in the coup”

 The newsreader Tijen Karaş, who was made to readthe coup declaration in TRT by the force of arms of the coup plotters thatinvaded TRT on the night of July 15, told about what happened in the studio anddirector’s room.