Running to the streets on the night of the coup attempt, Şerife became an icon when she gathered all of her neighbors and marched to Taksim Square.
She knew that something was wrong when watching the news on TV on the evening of July 15 and hearing the call of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. She went out with her children and grandchildren on to the streets chanting, ‘God is the greatest!’ Her family walked from their house in Levent to the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, and their neighbors joined to march with them. They stood against the coup attempt on the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge until the next morning.
“Made me cry”
The actual scene that would later make her unforgettable was her coming to the anti-coup demonstrations in Taksim Square on the evening of July 16th. “My father was also an excavator. My husband is an excavator too,” said 50-year-old Şerife Boz and she described that night, “I drove to the center of town. I don’t have an E-Class license to drive trucks, but I can. As my father and husband were excavators, it also came into my interest. I literally marched to war. I went there with great feelings. I chanted until morning. When we went to the demonstrations, we picked people up on our way. When we arrived, we started chanting, “God is the greatest,” and we all prayed. We never thought that it would get so much attraction.”
Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, who said that Şerife Boz, “made me cry,” invited Şerife, her husband and her neighbor to the Çankaya Palace on July 26th and expressed his gratitude towards them.
Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım was touched by Şerife Boz's actions. Yıldırım invited Şerife Boz and Semra Tutar, who became icons with their photograph inside the truck, to Çankaya Palace.
