A commemoration ceremony to mark the first anniversary of defeated coup attempt began Saturday at Istanbul’s iconic July 15 Martyrs' Bridge with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in attendance.

Erdogan hundreds of thousands of people at the bridge over the Bosphorous, which was renamed to honor the martyrs after the coup attempt.

The commemoration event began with the national anthem, followed by a recitation of the Quran.

Earlier, having gathered in Beylerbeyi, Cengelkoy, Altunizade and Kisikli districts of the Asian side of the city, people marched to the bridge amid tight security.

The bridge was closed by putschists on the night of the coup attempt and dozens people were killed on it.
Rallies named "democracy watches" will begin after midnight.

Later, Erdogan is scheduled to depart for Ankara, where he would address the parliament at 2.32 a.m. local time (1132GMT), the time the parliament was bombed on the night of the coup attempt.

Sunday's program will begin with a morning prayer at Ankara's Bestepe Millet Mosque, followed by the opening of the July 15 Martyrs' Monument at the presidential complex.

"We are a state governed by rule of law. If it comes to me after parliament, I will sign it," Erdogan said. Restoring the death penalty would effectively end Ankara's European Union membership ambitions.

Erdogan also praised the "people's faith" in facing up the armed coup plotters.

Erdogan arrived from the capital Ankara on his official plane accompanied by an F-16 fighter jet, AFP news agency reported.

The authorities declared July 15 an annual national holiday of "democracy and unity", billing the foiling of the putsch as a historic victory of Turkish democracy.

"It's one year since the darkest night was turned into an epic," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told a special session of parliament that kicked off a day of celebrations set to last until dawn.

He said the night of July 15 was a "second War of Independence" after the war that led to the creation of the modern Turkish state in the ruins of the Ottoman Empire in 1923.

About 249 people, not including the plotters, were killed when a disgruntled faction of the army sent tanks into the streets and war planes into the sky in a bid to overthrow Erdogan.

But they were thwarted within hours as the authorities regrouped and people poured into the streets in support of Erdogan.

Tens of thousands carried the Turkish flag while others brandished pictures of the "martyrs" who died defeating the coup bid as a sea of people stretched from the bridge.

People chanted "we are soldiers of Tayyip [Erdogan]" and called for the reinstatement of the death penalty for the coup plotters, with some even brandishing nooses.

At 2100 GMT, people across Turkey took part in "democracy watches", rallies commemorating how people poured out into the streets.

PHOTO CAPTION

Thousands of people gather at a massive rally in Istanbul to mark the first anniversary of defeated coup attempt

Agencies