Presidency of Religious Affairs Files Criminal Complaint Against Ankara Bar Association

* Photo: AA - Archive

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The Presidency of Religious Affairs has filed a criminal complaint against the administrators of Ankara Bar Association.

Referring to the statement of Ankara Bar Association regarding the targeting remarks of President of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş about LGBTI+s and HIV positive people, the Presidency has argued that the executives of the Ankara Bar committed the crimes of "inciting the public to enmity and hatred or indignity", "hate and discrimination" and "insult."

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), Chief Counsel of the Presidency of Religious Affairs Selami Açan filed the criminal complaint to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on behalf of the institution. The petition has quoted the friday sermon (khutbah) read out by Ali Erbaş in Hacı Bayram-ı Veli Mosque in Ankara on April 24 as well as the statement of Ankara Bar Association regarding this sermon.

CLICK - Reactions Against President of Religious Affairs' Hate Speech

The petition has read, "After [Erbaş] conveyed the universal orders and messages of Islam to our people, the religion of Islam, the Muslims believing in Islam, our President and Presidency were heinously and recklessly attacked on social networking sites and official website of Ankara Bar."

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office also launched an investigation against Ankara Bar executives over their statement about Ali Erbaş.

CLICK - Ankara Bar Investigated After Criticizing Religious Affairs President over LGBTI+ Remarks

Bringing a series of accusations to Ankara Bar executives, the Presidency of Religious Affairs has argued that Ali Erbaş "was publicly insulted as a public officer due to his public duty", "the nation's past, religious values and what they hold sacred were openly insulted" and "a certain segment of the society was humiliated, degraded and worn out before the public."

What happened?

In his Friday sermon (khutbah) on April 24, President of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş targeted LGBTI+s and the ones living with HIV.

Erbaş briefly stated the following:

"People! Islam accepts adultery as one of the greatest harams. It curses the people of Lot, the homosexuality. What is the wisdom of this? The wisdom here is that it brings diseases and degenerates the generation. Hundreds of thousands of people a year are exposed to the HIV virus caused by this great haram, which passes as adultery in the Islamic Literature. Let's come and fight together to protect people from this kind of evil."

Several rights organizations, politicians and bar associations condemned these remarks. Both Ankara Bar Association and Human Rights Association (İHD) filed a criminal complaint against Erbaş.

Noting that Erbaş spread hate with his statements, Ankara Bar warned that "if Erbaş remained in office despite his remarks about LGBTI+s, women and children, no one should be surprised if, in his next speech, he called on people to light torches and burn women as witches at the squares."

The Bar also argued that with his statements, Ali Erbaş, "whose voice was coming from ages ago, incited the public to enmity and hatred by presiding over a state institution and building his discourse on values held sacred." (EKN/SD)