Presidency of Religious Affairs is Not Legitimate, Says HDP MP Kaya

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Hüda Kaya addressed the Parliament today (June 12) and talked about the investigation faced by Ankara Bar over its statement condemning the Friday sermon of the Presidency of Religious Affairs that targeted LGBTIs+ and HIV positive people.

While Ankara Bar Association also filed a criminal complaint against the Presidency over its hate speech, the prosecutor's office concluded that "there was no reason to launch an investigation."

Slamming the targeting remarks of the Presidency, Kaya has said, "If the Presidency of Religious Affairs will do its job and speak in the name of religion, then it needs to speak about theft and child molestation."

'You are not the owners of the sacred'

Bars have the right to express their opinions about the issue, just as the Presidency of Religious Affairs, Kaya has noted in her speech and said:

"You cannot declare yourselves as the owners of the sacred, saying 'We are conservatives, we lay claim to the sanctity of family.' You go and read on the Internet what AKP Chair said about the LGBTI+.

'It is not a legitimate institution'

"As a Muslim myself, the Presidency of Religious Affairs is not an institution that represents me. It is not legitimate.

"The Presidency of Religious Affairs cannot dogmatize on our behalf. If the Presidency expresses its opinions, then bar associations also have the right to express their own opinions.

'Talk about corruption, massacred people...'

"You do not have the right to impose a sectarian, Emevi thought on this society in the name of Islam. If the Presidency of Religious Affairs will do its job and speak in the name of religion, then it needs to speak about theft and child molestation.

"It should defend the rights of boys who were molested in koran courses. It should talk about corruption, it should talk about people who were massacred unjustly. It should speak for the right of thought, which is the basis of human rights in the koran, it should speak for freedom."

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."

In response to this statement, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation against Ankara Bar Association on April 27. The Presidency of Religious Affairs also filed a criminal complaint against its executives on the same day.

The Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office also launched an investigation against the executives of the Diyarbakır Bar due to their statement condemning the remarks of Ali Erbaş. The executives face the possible charge of "degrading religious values." (RT/SD)