Migration Monitoring Association case: Report on refugees cited as criminal evidence

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Members and executives of a Migration Monitoring Association (GÖÇİZDER) who were taken into custody during a police raid on June 3 have been still held in the Istanbul Police Department.

Police raided the office of the GÖÇİZDER in İstanbul as part of an investigation conducted by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

22 people were referred to the Istanbul Courthouse for their statements to be completed at the prosecutor's office.

They are charged with "providing finance to the organization" based on the reports, books, and brochures that they had prepared as part of the work that they had done within the Association.

The reports prepared by GÖÇİZDER on refugees are among the charges against the 22 people, reported by Mezopotamya News Agency.

Books on forced migration deemed a crime

Three books were among the accusations against GÖÇİZDER, which included the rights violations against the minorities and Kurds who were displaced during the village evacuations in the 1990s, and the experiences of people who were forced to migrate as a result of the conflicts in 2015.

During the police interrogation, the detainees were asked, "Who gave the orders you to prepare these books?", and it was claimed that the books in question were intended to "insult the state".

The court ordered the confiscation of the books on the grounds that books include"terrorist propaganda."

The books' names are as follows: "Migration stories of non-Muslims displaced in the 90s", "Migration stories of Kurds displaced in the 90s" and "Migration stories of women during the 2015-2016 curfews."

What happened?

Police raided the office of the Migration Monitoring Association (GÖÇİZDER) in Şirinevler, İstanbul, in an investigation conducted by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

Twenty-two people were detained , with warrants against six others. Among the detained are the executives of the association: Şeref Kaya, Halit Karahan, Avukat Pınar Konak, Makbule Altıntaş, Veysi Yıldız, Bilal Yıldız, İlyas Erdem, Zelal Coşkun and Kerem Tosun.

The investigation into the association concerns the use of the funds the association receives from the European Union and the United Nations for "terrorism" purposes, the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

The prosecutor's office issued a confidentiality order on the file. The 4-day detention order was extended for another 4 days. 22 people have been held in the Istanbul Police Department for 8 days.

(RT/TB/VK)