Turkey is holding a series of events today to mark the first anniversary of a failed coup in which at least 260 people died and 2,196 were wounded. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will unveil a memorial on an Istanbul bridge that became a landmark of resistance and will later address parliament.<br/>An army faction tried to seize power last July but the attempt collapsed. The government has since dismissed more than 150,000 state employees, saying it is rooting out coup supporters. <br/><br/>Critics say the dismissals, and a wave of 50,000 arrests, are part of an attempt to purge dissent. Kicking off a series of events that will extend into dawn today, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in a special session of parliament that 15 July 2016 was a "second War of Independence", following the conflict that led to the creation of the modern state in the 1920s.<br/><br/>Mr Erdogan will attend a rally in Istanbul on the bridge across the Bosphorus where crowds confronted soldiers. It has been renamed the Bridge of the Martyrs of July 15 and the president will unveil a "martyrs' memorial" there.