Humanitarian protection given to the families of prisoners, accused of anti-terrorism, should not be seen as a form of support for terrorism.
According to the Turkish Media outlets; 47 people were detained because they provided financial aid to the relatives of those imprisoned in Izmir and distributed aid sent from abroad to families in need. The money and jewellery in the houses of these people and 2 F series American dollars were also seized on the grounds that they were evidence of ‘organization’.
Within the scope of the investigation carried out by the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, 40 houses were raided in İzmir, İstanbul, Ankara, Samsun and Muğla and 47 of the 54 people for whom arrest warrants were issued were detained.
During the searches conducted at the addresses, 180 thousand 305 Turkish liras ( around 8 thousand 900 Euros), 400 euros, 4 thousand 900 dollars, 47 jewellery items, numerous documents containing information on organizational activities and financial distribution within the organization, and two “F” series 1 US dollars were seized.
It was stated that those detained were people who provided financial assistance to members of the Gülen community and that they handed over the money sent from abroad to families in need of help.
İzmir’de tutuklu ailelerine yardım ettikleri için 47 kişi daha gözaltına alındı
Emniyet Müdürlüğü’nün resmî hesabından fonda Plevne Marşı çalan video yayınladı. Paylaşımda girilen evlerdeki ziynet eşyalarına kadar el konulduğu duyuruldu. https://t.co/VC2WdDONKG pic.twitter.com/AlnOHa1i1q
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In the statement made by the İzmir Police, it was announced that the aid was provided in three ways: cardless transactions from ATMs, cargo and hand.
Humanitarian protection should be given to the prisoner of anti-terrorism and the prisoner’s family members during these difficult times. Humanitarian protection given to the families of prisoners, accused of anti-terrorism, should not be seen as a form of support for terrorism. Awareness among society and the decision makers within the country that even prisoners are entitled to “rights” despite the crimes that they are accused of having committed.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights clearly states under Article 3 that individuals have a right to life, liberty and security. Under Article 9 no one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. In Turkey, individuals’ rights are being restricted under the veil of anti-terrorism laws. This escalating repression of rights and political agenda that is taking over has sustained heavy blows on Turkish society.
What happened after 15th July 2016 in Turkey?(1)
Turkey has a broad definition of terrorism includes crimes against the constitutional order and allows the criminalization of expressions that justify, praise or incite people to use coercion or violent methods employed by a terrorist organization.
While the number of investigations on terrorism-related allegations was 55,058 in 2014 and 36,425 in 2015, they continually rose following a failed coup on July 15, 2016, when 155.014 investigations were launched that year alone. In 2017 the number of investigations launched on terrorism-related allegations rose to a record number of 457,423, to 444,342 in 2018, to 310,954 in 2019, 208,833 in 2020 and 191,964 in 2021, totalling 1,768,530 in the 2016-2021 period. (
Following the coup attempt, the Turkish government launched a massive crackdown on non-loyalist citizens, particularly members of the faith-based Gülen movement, under the pretext of an anti-coup fight.
The Turkish government accuses the Gülen movement of masterminding the failed coup, yet the movement strongly denies any involvement in the failed putsch.
1 https://stockholmcf.org/more-than-2-million-terrorism-investigations-launched-in-turkey-following-failed-coup-official-data/
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