One year on from Turkey’s failed coup, journalist Samet Dogan spoke to euronews about the night that brought nationwide trauma to his country.<br /><br />“As soon as I got out of the vehicle under the bridge, gun fire rained down on us from the bridge and we took cover behind a car. When I got to the bridge it felt like I was in a warzone, like a scene I had witnessed while working in the Middle East.” <br /><br />“People were dying and falling on the frontline, and the kids on motorcycles were moving forward transporting badly wounded people, sometimes with missing limbs, to hospitals.<br /><br />“On that night they even fired tank rounds, I mean they fired on civillians with tanks.<br />People who know how Turkey suffered from previous coups gathered there that night and never stepped back. It was like a war scene played out in fast-forward with tanks, figther jets and heavy weapons firing.” <br /><br />Tank trouble <br /><br />Eyewitness “Metin Dogan threw himself in front of a tank outside Istanbul Airport to try and stop its advance.”: http://www.ahaber.com.tr/galeri/turkiye/tankin-onune-yatan-metin-doganin-akibeti-ne-oldu He told euronews about what was going through his mind at that moment.<br /><br />“I thought if people could see someone being crushed under a tank on live television they wouldn’t hesitate to come out onto the streets to resist this purge. I left home for the airport very quickly. There were two tanks, patrolling back and forth in front of the airport. I ran quickly in front of them. When I was running, I was screaming at them “I am a Turkish soldier, in which army are you?”<br /><br />“They then started to move forward, so I quickly laid down in front of the tank. I started repeating Kalima Shahadat (the Islamic testimonial word one says before dying). As the tank approached I was totally at peace. My heart-rate was normal, blood pressure normal. In a second, I thought, I was going to meet my with the creator.”<br /><br />“Just before the tank stopped, it was so close to crushing me. I said, this is the end for me. After it suddenly stopped the tank was swinging like it was in a cradle. The tank track was touching my head, my shoulder. After July 15, I consider myself a dead man walking. Any day could be my last. That’s why I spend all my time for my country, to make Turkey stronger.”<br />
