Prime Minister, Binali Yıldırım paid a visit to Türksat’s Main Campus, which was hit by fighter jets used by coup sympathizer pilots during the coup attempt by Fethullah Gülen’s terror organization (FETÖ), to express his condolences.
Yıldırım made not that one of the targeted centers by the coup plotters was Türksat. He said “Their aim was to cut off all broadcasts. This is why they attacked with planes and helicopters from the air.” Yıldırım pointed at a hole, which was caused by the bombs dropped from the fighter jets that were used by coup sympathizer pilots, and said the following:
“This hole you see here is a hole left from a dropped bomb. Their goal at first, as you can see a bit further out, they threw a bomb on the antenna with the Turkish flag on it. However, it isn’t an active antenna, it served the purpose of Türksat 1B during its first years, and now it was an antenna that symbolized Türksat. Thinking that it was an active broadcasting antenna, they through a bomb on it. However broadcasts were being carried out from a different location, they didn’t predict this. And finally, they tried to render the activity here by means of shooting randomly, here, further back, other places from the air, and throwing bombs, but because of our Türksat personnel’s very prudent and wise actions, they were able to buy time by making it impossible for them to reach the real center.”
“May God have Mercy on our Martyrs’ souls”
Yıldırım reinstated that two Türksat personnel had lost their lives. He said “May God have mercy on our martyrs’ souls. We have 4 injured friends, we paid them a visit and they are doing much better. I wish them a speedy recovery.”
Yıldırım pointed out what took place at the TRT General Directorate (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) during the attempted coup:
“In a short period they invaded TRT and they tried to make their pirated announcements. Meanwhile, Türksat whether it be through the backup system, or by interference, managed to take TRT off the air in a short period of time. Thus they lost the only means of communication they were able to obtain. The entire night broadcasts of all the channels went uninterrupted. Here, I would like to thank all the personnel, especially the CEO, where with limited resources and their whole heart and soul, many patriotic faithful brothers and sisters at Türksat helped in suppressing the coup. In preventing this coup, they contributed greatly within their own limitations. One of the most important reason why this coup was deemed unsuccessful was because the source where citizen’s received news was not able to be censored. Here Türksat carried out a meaningful task.”
Mr. Yıldırım relayed his well wishes to Türksat’s community and employees.