A/HRC/37/50/Add.2 1. The Government of the Republic of Turkey expresses its appreciation of the role played by mandate of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on examining questions relevant to torture. Turkey takes note of the contributions of the Rapporteur’s work in fulfilling his mission within the scope of his mandate to date. 2. After studying the advanced unedited version of the Report which was prepared by the Special Rapporteur’s Office, following his mission to Turkey from 27 November through 2 December 2016, the Government of the Republic of Turkey would like to submit its comments and observations in the following paragraphs. Terrorist Organization FETÖ/PDY 3. To start with, the Government wishes to remind that FETÖ/PDY (Fetullahist Terrorist Organization/Parallel State Structure) is an armed terrorist organization established by Fetullah Gülen which aims to suppress, debilitate and direct all the Constitutional institutions, to overthrow the Government of the Republic of Turkey and to establish an oppressive and totalitarian system through resorting to force, violence, threat, blackmailing and other unlawful means. 4. On the night of 15 July, upon the instruction of the founder and leader of the FETÖ/PDY, Fetullah Gülen, and in line with the plan approved by him, “a group of terrorists in uniforms” within the Turkish Armed Forces attempted an armed coup against the democracy for the purpose of overthrowing the elected president, Parliament and Government together with the Constitutional order. 5. The Presidential Compound, the hotel where Mr. President was staying at, the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA), the Police Special Operations Centre and the security units, the premises of the National Intelligence Organization and various military units were attacked with bombs and arms. The Bosphorus bridges connecting Asia and Europe were closed to traffic by the terrorists in uniform using tanks and heavy artillery. 6. The Turkish Parliament building, reflecting the public’s will and the heart of the democracy, was bombed for the first time in the history of the Republic of Turkey. Fighter jets carried out bomb attacks in the course of the extraordinary meeting of the Plenary Session against the coup attempt. During the attack, Parliament officials, some civilians and many police officers were injured, and extensive damage was caused to the Parliament building. 7. On the night of 15 July, tanks ran over civilians and some of them were killed and injured as a result of being trapped under the tanks. Fighter jets made low altitude flights over the cities by breaking through the sound barrier and in a manner which would lead to fear and panic in the public. The TGNA and people were shot randomly by the coup plotters, snipers directly targeted people from strategic points, the crowd was bombed and shot from these fighter jets. In brief, the civilians, who defended the democratic regime at the cost of their lives, were massacred by coup plotters. In the course of the coup attempt, 250 persons were killed and more than 2000 were injured. 8. However, to judge the deeds of this organization with only what transpired on July 15th would be a mistake. To understand why FETÖ/PDY is recognized as a terrorist organization one needs also to take into consideration the enormity of their previous actions and the resulting trauma that the Turkish nation has experienced. The so-called educational services of this organization was in fact the first step of an infiltration campaign where kids were put through a heavy hand in indoctrination. They were provided with cheat sheets for entrance exams for prominent schools and later for government jobs. They were turned into 2