Off-Duty Doctor Tells Of Role Fighting Turkish Coup Bid

An off-duty doctor caught up in the July 15 coup attempt in Istanbul has told how he helped treat those wounded by pro-coup forces on the Bogazici (Bosphorus) Bridge.



Seyit Ali Gumustas, a 36-year-old trauma and orthopedics specialist, said he was with friends on the Asian side of the city when he heard soldiers had seized the two bridges across the Bosphorus.



Joining the protestors converging on the line of soldiers and armored vehicles on the bridge, Gumustas said the soldiers suddenly opened fire.



"We heard gunfire when we reached the bridge," he told Anadolu Agency. "Helicopters and warplanes were flying very low over us. The bullets passed very close. Although this situation seems like a short time on social and visual media, it lasted until the morning when the pro-coup soldiers surrendered."



When he arrived, Gumustas told paramedics he was a doctor and offered to help treat the victims.



"We heard that two of our citizens' dead bodies had been lying in front of the tanks for a long time so we tried to take them to the ambulance but the gunfire started again as soon as we got the first body so we could not take the second one," he said.



"We examined about 30 slightly and seriously injured patients."



Gumustas, who lives in Tekirdag, the province to the northwest of Istanbul, said the spirit of those resisting the coup would stay with him.



"People did not leave the area despite the weapons, the tanks, the low-flying planes and helicopters, the wounded or dead people -- that impressed me a lot," he said.



At least 246 people were killed and more than 2,100 injured in the coup attempt, which the government has blamed on the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) of U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen.



Referring to the night of the attempted putsch, Gumustas said: "This was the first step to invade our country but thanks to our heroic people they did not proceed to the second step."



On Monday, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced that Istanbul's Bogazici (Bosphorus) Bridge would be renamed the 'July 15 Martyrs' Bridge' to honor the coup victims and mark the resistance against the July 15 putsch. -