28 year old amateur soccer player Volkan Canöz, was martyred by a putschist shooting at people from a tank causing death and destruction, on the night of the July 15th coup attempt.
Volkan heard about the coup attempt and told his family he wanted to go out onto the streets immediately. His father was not able to stop him even though he said, “We don’t have any guns, and we don’t have anything else to defend us.” Volkan said, “Our President calls us, nothing else matters.” and left the house taking his younger brother Bilal with him. Volkan went to the Ankara Police Headquarters with his brother and friends from the neighborhood. His mother left the house following after her two sons.
Volkan climbed on the tank in front of the Police Headquarters. He pulled the soldier inside the tank out and got wounded by the soldier’s weapon. He lost his life at the hospital.
He was buried in the Ankara Karşıyaka Martyr’s Cemetery. He was also the nephew of Selçuk Özdağ, AKP’s Parliament Member from Manisa.
The name of Martyr Volkan Canöz was given to an Anatolian imam hatip high school in Antalya and in Kırıkkale.
