Melbourne's Turkish community has been rocked by the attempted military coup against the Erdogan government, with hundreds gathering in Broadmeadows on Saturday in a show of strength against the attacks.
As news of the event continued to emerge throughout the day, an estimated 300 people gathered at the Hume Learning Centre to publicly condemn the coup, which has reportedly killed at least 90 people and led to hundreds of arrests.
"We are a freedom-loving people," said Kazim Ates, who helped organise the snap rally. "We want the democratic process to be protected in Turkey and not be breached every once in a while by anti-democratic forces."
Almir Colan, a director for the Australian Centre for Islamic Finance, said he was shocked that there had been an apparent attempt to overthrow the government, describing it as "a dream for ISIS".
"Personally I was shocked that in a country as stable as this, which houses three million refugees, and which is the key partner in the fight against extremist terrorism, we now have members in military establishment who think that the way forward is through the means such as this," he said.
The rally was hastily convened through Facebook and other social media channels on Saturday morning, only hours after gunfire and explosions rocked both Turkey's main city Istanbul and the capital Ankara in chaotic scenes throughout the night.
However, hundreds of men, women and children turned up for the peaceful demonstration, with many waving Turkish flags and chanting "One Land" in a show of support for the President Tayyip Erdogan and the national government.
While it still remains unclear who exactly is responsible for the attempted coup, Melbourne's Turkish Consul General Mehmet Kucuksakalli told the crowd that it had been "conducted by a clique within the armed forces – and received a well-deserved response from our nation."
Some, however, are not so sure, saying the latest events threw up more questions than answers. One well placed source, who did not wish to be named, pointed to the fact that when coups had been launched in the past, there had always been a figurehead in the public eye threatening the government for months – Egypt being a recent example. The absence of one in this case "raises questions about its legitimacy."
Meanwhile, members of Melbourne's Kurdish community, which opposes the Erdogan regime, have also condemned the events, saying that violence was not the answer.
Kurdish Association of Victoria spokesman Mahmut Kahraman told Fairfax Media: "We Kurds are against Mr Erdogan's regime, which is undemocratic and has committed big human rights crimes against Kurds, but even though we are against his regime, we are not supporting any coup – in Turkey or anywhere else in the world. We believe military coups just bring more bloodshed."
Cigdem Aslan, from the Kurdistan Women's League of Victoria, agreed. She said the most of her family lives in Ankara and feared for their safety when she heard the news this morning.
"They were very, very scared. They were hearing bombs, there were fights on the streets, army clashes. They don't feel safe at all," she said. "Turkey doesn't need this right now."
