22 July 2016•Update: 22 July 2016
By Yesim Sert Karaaslan
ANKARA
Suleyman Tok could have died when he threw stones at heavily armed pro-coup soldiers, but it was a risk he was willing to take to stop the overthrow of Turkey’s democratically elected government.
On the night of the July 15 coup attempt, Tok, a construction worker, was shot by pro-coup soldiers during a bomb attack on the headquarters of the Turkish police in Ankara.
"[After] we saw soldiers entering the [police] headquarters, we followed the soldiers to stop them," Tok told Anadolu Agency.
"We tried to stop them by throwing stones and that was when they fired at us," Tok said, adding that people in the streets were carrying the wounded away from the scene and then coming back to stop pro-coup soldiers.
Tok, who is currently being treated at a hospital, said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's telephone message, urging Turkish citizens to suppress the violent putsch, prompted him to take to the streets.
Tok said one of most important events he witnessed the night of the coup attempt was that it wasn’t soldiers in armored vehicles who fired directly at civilians, but military officers.
"The soldiers just shot into the air when a stone hit their head... I personally witnessed it," Tok said.
"You can become a martyr too"
Tok said he called his wife, Ilknur, who was staying in northern Samsun province at the time of the failed coup, urging her to take to the streets.
"I am going to become a martyr, you go as well, become a martyr too," Tok said he told his wife over the phone.
Ilknur, a housewife, said she went out to the streets after her husband’s phone call, adding that she "went out to be martyred".
With no fear of being shot outside amid the violent coup attempt, Ilknur said she "went out to the streets to leave a good country to [her] children."
At least 246, including civilians, were martyred and more than 2,100 others were left injured after a deadly coup attempt on July 15.
Turkey says the attempted coup was orchestrated by followers of U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen, who is accused of infiltrating Turkey’s vital state institutions with the aim of creating a "parallel state".
Turkey provided a formal extradition request for Gulen earlier this week. The U.S. is currently reviewing the documents, according to the State Department.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden assured Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in a telephone call Thursday that the extradition request for the FETO leader would be examined closely and as soon as possible.
*Emin Avundukluoglu contributed to this report from Ankara.
