PM Nawaz heaps praise on Turks for standing up to military

Premier says people of Turkey deserve to be complimented for coming out into the streets and facing military tanks

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government and opposition leaders condemned on Saturday the deadly but thwarted coup attempt by a faction of the Turkish military against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rule as they praised the people of Turkey for supporting democracy.

“We deeply admire the resolve of the brave and resilient Turkish people, who stood up against the forces of darkness and anarchy to express their support and commitment to democracy,” Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif said in a statement issued by his office.



“We express our complete support and solidarity with President Erdogan, the democratically elected government of Turkey, and the democratic institutions of Turkey,” he added.

The premier said Pakistan deeply appreciates President Erdogan’s steadfast support as well as the support of the people of Turkey to Pakistan on all occasions, whenever the need arose. “I wish to reaffirm full support of the government and people of Pakistan to the elected leadership and government and the people of Turkey,” the prime minister said.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif took to Twitter to ‘salute the people of Turkey’. “Turkish people have defeated the dark forces and defended their Right to Rule,” he wrote on the popular microblogging site.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid commended Turkey on becoming the first Muslim nation to foil an attempted coup. “Thwarting the military coup with the power of the masses is a good gesture for all Islamic countries and Turkey deserves congratulations for this,” he told state-run PTV.



Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the chairman of the main opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, condemned the attempted coup and voiced hope that Turkey will come out as a stronger democracy and stronger nation after quashing the uprising.

“The people of Turkey deserve to be complimented for coming out into the streets and facing military tanks and artillery with bare hands to force the coup makers run,” Bilawal said in a statement.

“The people of Pakistan in general and the PPP in particular are aware of the disastrous consequences of Bonapartes staging military coups,” he added. This new development will lend new strength to ‘democracy-loving forces’ anywhere in the world and make the potential coup makers think twice before attempting adventurism.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2016.