Turkish volleyball team Halkbank Spor Klubu took the opportunity last month to renew their condemnation of the attempted coup upon their national government a year earlier.
“Democracy saga!” – the statement read in Turkish. “That day Turkey once again won.”
“While FETH/PDY condemns the coup attempt to demolish our democracy and bring an end to civil war, we once again admire and thank the martyrs of our democracy who wrote this saga.”
The coup attempt was carrieed out by a faction of the Turkish military that attempted to oust president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The faction attempting to overthrow the government believed that Erdogan’s government had eliminated the country’s democracy, disregarded human rights, and violated the country’s long-held policies of secularism, among other charges. The forces arrived at the doorsteps of many key government buildings, including the Turkish Parliament and Presidential Palace.
Ultimately, the coup attempt failed, with more than 300 people killed and more than 40,000 detained – with trials for the accuesd still going on more than a year later.
The coup was not universally supported, though most of the world’s countries officially either condemned the attempt or called for restraint and diplomacy.
Read more about the failed coup attempt here, via CNN.
Halkbank lost 2-0 to eventual champions Fenerbahce in the quarterfinals of last year’s Turkish League tournament.
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