Fresh political raids targets leading Turkish NGO Kimse Yok Mu
Date posted: September 2, 2015
On early Wednesday morning, police Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime division KOM teams entered the Kocaeli branch of Kimse Yok Mu and confiscating applications by utilizing the reasonable doubt clause which allows police to conduct raids without any substantiated evidence. Providing aid to 4.5 million across 113 countries, Kimse Yok Mu has repeatedly been subjected to arbitrary government backed audits, passing all inspections with flying colors.
“This operation constitutes nothing more than a smear campaign,” said Kimse Yok Mu’s lawyer Sait Yılmaz. “There are no irregularities here, nor any crime or evidence that could justify a raid into this NGO which works transparently for the good of the public, helping out the people in need.”
Yılmaz also expressed that the raid, arriving just weeks ahead of the Muslim holiday of sacrifice, Eid al-Adha, is attempting to discourage donors. The Muslim holiday is one of the most important dates in the calendar year for Kimse Yok Mu increasing its operations to provide food to the impoverished in dozens of nations.
The president of the branch, Mevlüt Topçu, stated, “This operation is an attempt to sway public attention away from important developments in the country.” He added “The volunteers working inside are quite reasonable people and have never done anything wrong. We would never tolerate any wrong doing.”
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has continued to draw harsh criticism over targeting certain sections of society, conducting raids against educational institutions, media as well as private enterprises.
Source: BGNNews , Sept 2, 2015
Tags: Defamation of Hizmet | Humanitarian aid | Turkey |
