The reopening ceremony was held on Sunday in front of the Mustazaf Der Headquarters in the Bağlar district of Diyarbakır.

At the ceremony, which started with the recitation of the Holy Quran by Mullah Remzi Uçar, a member of the Board of İTTİHADUL ULEMA, the officials of the association informed participants and journalists on the activities of Mustazaf-Der, and the court’s unlawful decision against the directors of the association that paved the way for the closure of the association.

Hüseyin Yılmaz, the chairman of Mustazaf Der (the Association of Solidarity with the Oppressed)

“Mustazaf-Der was founded on 3 basic principles such as fighting poverty, fighting ignorance and preventing conflicts. Our association continued its auspicious services from the day it was founded until the date it was closed. Our association led humanitarian aid activities and organized many demonstrations against attacks on Islamic values,” said Hüseyin Yılmaz, the chairman of Mustazaf Der (the Association of Solidarity with the Oppressed).

Briefly touching upon the events that they organized before the closure decision, Yılmaz said: “After we held the 'respect for the prophet' rally in Diyarbakır in January 2006 to protest the publication of cartoons insulting the Prophet in Denmark, and the Mawlid al-Nabi (the Birth of the Prophet) event in April of the same year, attacks and smear campaigns were launched against our association. The dirty and dark groups, organizations and gangs inside and outside the state, who were uncomfortable with the participation of hundreds of thousands of people in these rallies that increased the Islamic awareness in the society, started to attack our association and hinder our legal activities simultaneously.”

“Criminal cases were brought against our members and officials and the process of closing our association was started”

Reminding that the provincial branches of the association were attacked in many cities, Yılmaz went on to say: Our branches in different provinces and districts were subjected to repeated attacks in front of the eyes of the security forces and law enforcement officers. In these attacks, some of our associations were set on fire and many of our members were injured. In fact, our association branch, which is about 500 meters from the police headquarters in Yüksekova, was set on fire by gangs, and Ubeydullah Durna, the Deputy Head of the branch in the association, was martyred in front of the law enforcement officers. As in all attacks against us, the perpetrators were not caught in this attack, and the file was left unsolved and closed on the pretext of the statute of limitations.”

“In a Konya-based conspiracy in 2008, some officials of the association were detained on baseless charges. They tried to implicate the officials in some criminal incidents in order to pave the way for the closure of the association. While the trial in the aforementioned criminal case in Konya was pending, a lawsuit was hastily filed in Diyarbakır to close the Mustazaf Der. The court decided to close the association before gathering evidence and waiting for the outcome of the criminal case,” Yılmaz said.         

Yılmaz stated that they lodged an application to the European Court of Human Rights, complaining of this arbitrary closure.

“On February 9, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights found a violation of the ECHR. Following some purges in the Turkish judiciary after 15 July, the conspiracy in the criminal case brought against our members and executives was revealed during the Supreme Court's review. This criminal case file, which was cited as the reason for the closure of our Association, resulted in the acquittal of all our members and administrators accused of membership of the so-called terrorist organization,” Yılmaz added.

Yılmaz concluded as follows: “After these decisions, we applied to the court, which decided to dissolve the association, for a retrial. In the reopened case, the previous decision to close the association was annulled. In accordance with the court decision, our association became active again with the approval of the governorship.” (ILKHA)